The Destruction of XANA: Revelations
by Mirani
Summary: Years have passed since she left them. No matter how hard they tried, they could not find her, even with that annoyingly naive false hope they always carried. They should have just expected her allegiances, by now. Back by request, third installment. One-sided OC/Odd, some OC/OC.
1. Prologue

A/N: Holy crap I'm alive. I know, I know, big shocker. Originally, I was going to only use the plot that is still on my dead laptop. But then I thought, hey, my writing is sooo much better now, so let's make a new plot! So I turned on the radio and wrote a prologue for the third story.

Sadly, I was not actually going to write this story. But because I kept getting messages and reviews from readers, I have dug deep into my memory and pulled this out. I did my research, reread my stories, and watched all the episodes again to (hopefully) make this story enjoyable. If you have randomly come across this story, I highly recommend reading the first two you can find off my profile. (**Edit: Because I decided to save you guys a lot of time and the horrors of reading my writing from two or three years ago, I have added a summary of the first two stories under the Disclaimer.**) They are not super awesome, but I promise my writing style gets better.

Yes, I know this chapter is kind of short. But prologues and first chapters are always the hardest to write. And, since I'm using a computer I have much better access to then the dead laptop, I can update more often. Of course, that requires reviews. XD

So, for the first time in a while...

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. So no suing.**

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Quick Summary:** In the first book, Tianna was introduced in LYOKO. She quickly found her way to Earth but did not quite get along with the LYOKO warriors. Eventually, they figured out who she was, and slowly friendship was formed. A relationship also developed with Odd and Tianna. Through some miscommunication, Tianna grows angry at Odd and turns herself in to X.A.N.A.. When Odd finally learns what really happened, he attempts to apologize to her. Confused, she does not know quite what to do and ends up severely weakening X.A.N.A. and sends William back to Earth.

In the second book, Tianna appears again during a party at Kadic. She quickly discovers Odd has moved on with Sam, and gets quite upset. While using William to wreck havoc and jealousy, she attempts to help the warriors bring back Franz Hopper. He has been in contact with her, and is using her to help bring himself back and destroy X.A.N.A. What the warriors do not know, and quickly find out, is that X.A.N.A. still has a hold on her via a virus he has infected her with. The pain it creates, in addition to her issues with Sam and her jealously over Odd, drives her to the brink of insanity. After several failed attempts, X.A.N.A. launches a rather well planned attack on the warriors and Tianna becomes possessed. After a battle for control, she wins, and her and Odd have a rather interesting talk about their relationship. Things seem to be going peachy, until X.A.N.A. captures Tianna again. He offers to take away her virus in exchange for her devotion, and he throws in giving back Franz Hopper to sweeten the deal. Tianna agrees, thinking she's helping the others, but instead gets infected with a different virus. Franz Hopper is rematerialized, but she is now back under X.A.N.A.'s clutches.

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**Log 730:** _It's officially been two years since I handed myself back over to X.A.N.A.. Two long years, especially when I'm trapped in LYOKO and the only sense of time I have is the digital clock on the bottom of this monitor. There's not even target practice with the monsters, since X.A.N.A. stripped me of my powers. All that reprogramming, and all I have is a new genetic code and that stupid virus. Stupid, stupid virus…it keeps me trapped here in this tower. I can't even visit the sector I'm trapped in, which I think is the ice sector. But who knows, I can't even access that data off this computer. X.A.N.A. believes that the more information I have about where I am could be dangerous, in case I decided I wanted to escape. He lets me look into the real world, but it's disconcerting to know where things are there and not here. I do, now, know this tower better than anything else in my digital life. X.A.N.A. keeps me here to work on his various programs, all the ones that I typically keep logged here. With the exception of this entry, I've never recorded something personal out of fear that X.A.N.A. would use it against me. But it seems he does not keep that much of an eye on me as long as I get the work done – his lack of emotions would probably keep him from understanding these ramblings anyways. Thank whatever forces may actually consider me an individual, whether it's a god or some other supernatural power, because I really need someone to talk to. Here goes._

_For a while I thought I could do this, walk away from my fake life on Earth and follow my true calling as a harbinger of destruction. Noting in my life ever goes as planned, though, and within the first few weeks I began to miss everything. I missed eating, breathing, feeling, heck, even sleeping. That deep slumber was wonderful, a world of darkness that was not uncomfortable. In sleep, there was such a peaceful warmth that does not exist in LYOKO. No, this digital world is devoid of all the senses, minus seeing and hearing. I think that if I could feel anything here, it would be coldness and emptiness – but why would I want to feel more of that when I already feel that inside? Senses are, unfortunately, not the only aspect of living I miss. Those friends of mine, even if sometimes we weren't friends…they invade my thoughts constantly. Originally I thought they would be better off without me, especially when I gave them William and Franz back, but I was wrong. At least, I was wrong when I thought I too would be better off without them. It hurts, somehow, in this world of nothingness, to know that I betrayed them when they tried so hard to accept me. Ultimately, I think I knew I would betray them like this, but the annoyance and occasional hatred for them pales against the feeling of camaraderie I had buried and hidden away._

_When I think about Earth, though, there is typically one part of it that dominates my mind. Yes, I miss everything I just logged, but there is, specifically, one person I truly miss: that blonde, idiotic, scrawny friend of mine, Odd. I call him a friend, but sometimes I think we were more than that. Of course, I know he doesn't think of me like that anymore. As I found out on my last excursion to Earth, Odd has Sam. And while I disapprove of that girl, I don't exactly have the odds in my favor. Sam is human, real, with a legitimate past. She isn't a computer program that struggles with picking a side, fights against destiny, and doesn't even know how to act human. Odd could be happy with her, and I have begrudgingly come to terms with that. No, that's a lie. Even in my current state, I want to go back to Odd. But from my watching – okay, perhaps it's more of stalking – Odd is happy with her. And I want him to be happy._

_Yes, I do know that from my stalking. I personally wouldn't consider it stalking, but by textbook definition, it is what I have been doing. Still do, actually, and I'm not afraid to admit that. X.A.N.A. hasn't attacked them since he took me back, and I started to get curious about what they were up to. Deep down, it makes me feel like I am still there, with them, but I try to ignore that. Yumi and William are in their freshmen year of college now, at the University of Bordeaux. Everyone else, Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, Aelita, and Sam, are in their senior year at Kadic. They all still keep in touch, but I feel bad for Ulrich. He and Yumi always had a thing for each other, and the distance thing is just not working for them. Not that I know anything about real relationships, but it seems Yumi needs constant attention from Ulrich. That simply is not possible, and I found out that she is cheating on him with William. It makes me rather sad to see the two of them fall apart. Jeremy and Aelita seem to be the only couple that don't have problems, to be completely honest. Their personalities are similar, in that way that allows them to get along amazingly instead of being mortal enemies. Between their love of computers and their determination to find and destroy X.A.N.A., those two make a great team…one that could potentially be dangerous to myself and the evil computer. I don't even want to think about what would happen if they caused enough trouble._

_Odd and Sam, by far, have an even more dysfunctional relationship than Yumi and Ulrich. Those two are fighting constantly, and their dating status changes more often than the weather does. I truly wonder if Odd is happy with her, but every time I see them together and they're not fighting, I realize he is. He has persevered through all that despite everything for her, and I can see the devotion he has. Still, if X.A.N.A. ever lets me out of this tower, I couldn't make any promises to not attempt to break them up._

_I suppose the last person I've been watching is Franz Hopper. His existence on Earth is still hidden – he lives in that old house near the school without anyone bothering him. Most of his time, he's tinkering with LYOKO, or, at least what I allow him to access. What saddens me is that he is still trying to find me amidst all the complicated files that are my prison world. Even Jeremy helps, while they also try to discover what X.A.N.A. is up to. It seems they don't want to shut down LYOKO until they can free me…if only that was possible. X.A.N.A. will never free me. Even if I am allowed to be materialized on Earth, I won't be able to escape him._

_–_

A lone tower sat in the middle of the blue and white ice sector, the only tower that glowed in the now dim world of LYOKO. It was as if someone had flicked off the lights in the world, and all the "creatures" that made LYOKO their home and protected their owner had gone into hibernation. From this single tower emitted an electric bluish light, with arcs of lightning dancing across its surface. Inside of it sat the lone inhabitant of the digital world, working rather quickly and efficiently on the console in front of her. No longer did she resemble what she once was, however.

Her thoughts stopped abruptly as she turned off the camera she had hacked. Seeing what had become of her and LYOKO only made her depressed. The feeling made her frown as she slid several windows across her screen and pulled up her assigned work. X.A.N.A. wanted her to work on his programs of taking over the world, but first that involved controlling the internet. So while she was stuck in her tower, he was off rampaging in the internet and sending her information to help her with the program. _Unfortunately_, she thought, _he's found so much more_.

The internet was polluted, corrupted with information that was abnormal. X.A.N.A. had used whatever perverse information he had come across to recreate her, his explanation being that when he trusted her enough, she would need the new genetic codes to "help" her. Mostly, she believed he had simply been corrupted by the internet. No regular virus/entity would get distracted enough to recode her genes when he ultimately wanted to take over the world. X.A.N.A. never ceased to amaze her. He had outdone himself, blending so many pictures from the internet into one person that he now planned to use in some way for his world domination and eradication scheme.

Almost every part of her had changed, even her skills. She was not quite sure what skills, but she knew she was missing some knowledge. Her looks were easier to know – once tan skin was now paler, and her hair had reverted to a shiny black. Even her eyes held a twinkling, silver color now. Along with looks, her body had changed too. X.A.N.A. let her age, so that if she was on Earth she could pass as seventeen, or eighteen. _Oh how the years have changed me._

"Tianna…" a voice, raspy and low, whispered.

She sighed softly. X.A.N.A. no longer used a conventional way to contact her, such as through a computer screen. No, he had gained an ominous, slightly theatrical side that had a flair for the dramatic.

"You have wished to leave this wonderful world of mine," the voice continued, its words making Tianna's eyebrows raise.

"My master," she murmured, disgusted at her groveling, "I do what you command."

"I find myself in need of another reliable minion," X.A.N.A. said.

His words shocked her. Another minion, as if she was not enough to complete his work was insulting. Deep down, she also knew she did not want to subject someone else to her lifestyle. "What…do you need me to do?"

"Why, my dearest creation, I need you to find someone and train them." She could almost see the sardonic smile the virus would have if he could. "I need you to travel to Earth. Perhaps find someone that will rouse the old warriors…"

"With all due respect, I do not think that is a wise idea." Tianna shuddered. She could daydream about them and wish all she wanted, but she was not ready to face them yet.

"I must see loyalty in you." His voice went from sardonic to threatening. "Unless you wish to stay locked up here, though I know you must miss that whole other world…the one that shall soon be destroyed and remade."

With teeth clenched, she ground out, "I bow to your greater wisdom, my master."

"Good…prepare to leave soon, Tianna. I will not tolerate your customary sluggishness."

His presence disappeared, leaving her shaking at her console. _Only days ago I complained about my life here_, she thought, touching the screen. _What have I done?_

_

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_I really hope you enjoyed the prologue! Please take the time to review, it reminds me that people are actually reading my stuff. :)

Also. I know I suck at dialogue...I'm working on it! I promise! I'm only good at description. /cry -.-'_  
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	2. Chapter 1

A/N: All these hits and no reviews? I sad. But alas, here comes the rather late update. (You could have gotten this a lot earlier if you reviewed. :P)

Also, I attached an edit to the prologue that includes a quick summary of the first two books. You know, to save time and the horrors that come with reading my horrible old writing. I really should get on revising those...

Anyways...

**Disclaimer: See previous chapter.**

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It was unbelievably cold. The wind blew with a vengeance, the falling snow now sideways. _Of course, I couldn't have rematerialized in a warm, protected building. No, instead it had to be a snow bank in some back alley._ Tianna sighed as she crawled out of the snow with shaking hands. At least X.A.N.A. had seen fit to give her somewhat appropriate clothes.

Since the actual feeling of goose-bump-cold did not exist in LYOKO, the sudden materialization had felt like hitting a brick wall. Even her layers could not keep away the shiver that crawled up her spin. She rubbed her hands together, only to find thick, red mittens protected them. With a frown, she studied the rest of what X.A.N.A. had given her. Black, fuzzy boots sprinkled with snow kept her feet warm, and tucked into them were dark blue skinny jeans. Her jacket was mid-length, black, and cinched with a belt. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she did not want to know what type of shirt X.A.N.A. had given her. He had seen fit to give her a red scarf, and on her head was a pair of red earmuffs. When reaching for the earmuffs, she had discovered she now had bangs. _Oh, how I loathe thee, X.A.N.A.,_ she grumbled to herself, _and your choices of how I look_.

What irritated her the most was that X.A.N.A. had not given her anything else; no money, no papers, no home – just the purpose of finding him another minion. She would have to scavenge, rob, and more than likely hurt people to survive. A frown crossed her face again as electricity sparked between her mittens. _So, X.A.N.A., you have given me something_. Yes, he had given her one thing, and that _thing_ was supposed to get her through everything: specter powers. They were the powers he gave most of his minions – speed, strength, intangibility, and control over electricity.

Her frown deepened as she began to walk aimlessly. The alley was connected to a street that she realized was several blocks away from her old home, Kadic. _Or was it ever really my home?_ She paused as the thought entered her mind, and her frown turned into a scowl. With a frustrated kick at the snow, she glanced up to curse at the sky – and instead found an abandoned apartment complex. All her previous thoughts disappeared, and her survival mode kicked in.

Several robberies and hours later, Tianna had a fully furnished and freshly cleaned apartment. With her speed and strength, she had gotten furniture, food, and a more decent wardrobe. Thanks to X.A.N.A.'s gifts of electricity, she had lighting and heating. She had even been able to use her powers to re-pipe the apartment and have water. From the outside, where she was standing, she could not tell that anything had changed. _But now I have a base_, she thought with a sigh, _no matter how unconventional it was to get it._

No matter how many burglaries she could commit, however, she still needed money. Robbing a bank was out of the question; there were too many traceable ways to find out who took it. X.A.N.A. did not tolerate stupidity in his minions. _But he sure tolerates his own stupidity_. She smirked as she began wandering the streets again, wondering what she could do for a job. An actual job was also out of the question, considering they would require papers that she did not have. That left her talents, and that thought left her with a frown, an expression that was quickly becoming her permanent expression. X.A.N.A. had stripped most of her talents away when he rewrote her genetic code. Sure, she still had her exceptional computer smarts, but her ability to draw and play instruments had disappeared from her repertoire. No longer could she remember how to properly draw, and musical notes had become a completely different language. _I'm gonna miss my voice_. She loved to sing, but even she knew she could not carry a tune anymore. Trying to sing would be suicide.

With a deep sigh, she dropped on a snow-covered bench. The snow had long since died down, and darkness blanketed the city now. Getting a job at this hour was pointless, she knew, but she needed the fresh air to think. A sardonic smile crossed her face. _Look at me, only a few hours on this planet and I already crave the fresh air._

–

Sleeping was not something Tianna was accustomed to anymore. Deep under warm, albeit stolen, blankets on a squishy, also stolen, bed was a pleasure she had not had in a year. _More than that, actually, considering the beds at Kadic were like bricks_. Her thoughts drifted on the plane of semi-consciousness as she rolled off her bed, smack into the wooden flooring. Grumbling incoherent words, she dragged herself to the kitchen and made coffee – another indulgence.

As she sat on the counters, sipping her delicious drink of energy-inducing caffeine, she pondered on what she should do for the day. Her walk the night before had yielded nothing but frozen fingers and toes, and she had refused to even go near the Kadic campus. She sighed, flipping on the TV, and found the news on her pirated cable. The newscaster was reporting and strange string of missing inventory in stores, and Tianna smirked. _A little late, are we?_

When she had finished her coffee, she took a warm shower – _blessed water, how I missed thee – _and headed back to the streets. She had barely made it to the corner when a child ran into her legs. Perhaps the age of three, the young girl had a mop of untamed brown hair and pathetic-looking blue eyes. Following her were two police men, each shouting. With one look at Tianna, the girl grabbed at her coat and hid behind her.

"Miss, I need you to hand over that little girl," the one man said as they skidded to a stop in front of a rather annoyed minion.

"Why?"

They were not expecting such a bluntly voiced question, and they paused for a moment.

"This girl is my step-sister," Tianna continued, her mind wandering on the question of why she was being kind.

"She stole from a shopkeeper back there," the other man said.

Whoever the girl was, she stepped out and held out empty hands. "No I didn't. You scary men just started chasing me for no reason, and I got scared."

"It won't happen again, officers." With that, Tianna grabbed the girl's arm and started dragging her away. Several blocks later, she let go of the girl's arm and glared down at her. "You're welcome."

"Thanks," the girl said, shifting uneasily. "For covering me, I mean. I'm Anna."

Tianna sighed and continued to walk, her mind traveling back to what she needed to do. Somehow she still needed to nab one of the warriors and make them X.A.N.A.'s minion, along with finding money and… Glancing down, she realized the Anna girl was still following her. _And I need to get rid of her._

"Hey, I wanna make it up to you." Anna blinked innocently at her, ignoring the annoyed glare. "Normally people don't help me."

"What could you possibly do?" She pinched the bridge of her nose and tilted her head up, fighting back an oncoming headache. Such a strange feeling – she had not felt physical pain in such a long time.

The girl fidgeted again, obviously unsure of what she should say. "I know some people…my, uhm, actual brother is older than I am and can get…things."

"Things…" And suddenly Tianna was interested. Things could mean papers, and papers could mean a way into Kadic. "What kind of things are we talking here?"

–

It was not typical of Tianna to sit at a dainty café on a corner, especially in the middle of winter. She would not have even known the place existed if it was not where the Anna girl had said would be the meeting place. Besides, sitting inside such an innocent looking café while waiting for the girl's older brother left time to think about what she was doing. Only days ago she was thinking about how she was not ready to face them, and now she was walking straight into the lion's den. _The sooner I get a minion, the faster I go back to LYOKO. The faster I go back to LYOKO, the quicker I get to wallow in self-pity…but have no ability to do anything about it._

The sound of someone dropping into the seat across from her startled her. Looking up, she found an older, male version of Anna looking at her with an amused expression. Her eyes narrowed, not liking the look. This only made him look more amused.

"I don't know how you managed to pull off that Anna was your sister," he finally said, laughter in his voice.

"_Step_-sister." Tianna glowered, then leaned back in her chair. Getting angry would not help her. "So, Anna told you what I want?"

"Papers to pass as a day student at Kadic Academy." He leaned back in his chair, too. "Unfortunately, that would require coming up with the papers that make you a 'citizen' and that you even exist…

"You're saying my saving your sister isn't enough?" A slight shock of electricity jumped between her hands, but he did not notice.

He sighed. "My sister gets in trouble all the time. I would have had to pull a few strings to get her out of juvy, again, but it wouldn't have taken too much."

An idea formed in Tianna's head, an idea she rather wished she had never thought of, but she needed those papers. X.A.N.A. would get impatient soon if she did not deliver. _Stupid X.A.N.A., making me do things I would rather not do. If I had my way, I would never have come back in the first place…no, I'm quite content to watch them from a distance and mope._

"Well, perhaps I can…sweeten…the deal. And it doesn't even involve threatening you."

"I'm listening."

"I suppose you and your…gang, group, or whatever live under a bridge or some rundown complex." She had his attention, albeit it was reluctant. He probably did not want to admit how they lived. "I could give you rather nice accommodations in the apartment complex I have moved him. Fully furnished, with working water and heat. Just give me a day, and the promise that no one touches my room." She wrote down the address on a napkin she found at the table. "Stop by tomorrow, around noon."

Leaving the café, she ignored his curious gaze and walked down the street. As soon as she was out of the view of anyone, she ran at inhuman speed to her apartment complex. She had a long night of burglaries and decorating to do. _It'll be worth it. I think._

By noon the next day, she had fixed up the whole complex. Sure, it was tiring, but she was quite proud of her work. No one would even notice anything amiss if they stood outside the building. While she waited for Anna's brother to show up, she pondered, once again, what she was getting herself into. _It's simple. Walk in, maybe stay for a week to earn the trust of one of them, and lure them to the warehouse. Or knock them out and drag them. No attachments, no distractions. I can do this._ Footsteps startled her out of her reverie, and she picked herself up from the stoop to see Anna's brother eying the complex with doubt.

"Well I wouldn't advertise to the world that this place is chalk full of stolen goods," she said with a snort as she led him to the door.

He inspected every room, minus hers, with carefully concealed shock. Tianna had taken the time to fully stock all the kitchens, provide clothes of multiple sizes, and place enough beds and futons in the complex so that a good deal of people could sleep there. If they were not enough, she provided plenty of pillows and blankets. _And if people get suspicious, I'll see what I can do to set up a holographic distraction to keep suspicion off of us._ At that thought, she blinked. It was the first time she had had an even remotely technical thought since she had reached Earth.

"I am impressed." His words brought her back to the present. "This will do nicely."

"And I get the papers?" She crossed her arms, looking at him suspiciously.

He laughed, pulling a packet out from underneath his jacket. "Pleasure doing business with you, Miss Amelia Henson."

"Why thank you, Mr.…" She frowned when she realized she had never gotten the name of the person who would soon be living in the same building as her.

"Just call me Talyn."

She tried to ignore the strange tingle in the back of her mind when he smiled.

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I heart the reviews. :D Constructive or "YOU SUCK!", I take them all. Just press that little button below this...


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! =( I keep getting side-tracked...but here's a chapter that finally gets the ball rolling! Kind of dialogue heavy, but it's a chapter, ne?

Thank you my anon reviewer, you made my day! XD

**Disclaimer/Claimer:** Refer to other chapters. Oh, and I'm not advocating the bad behaviors in this story. Robbing, cheating, underage drinking, and destruction. O.O

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While she figured her first day back to Kadic would be weird, Tianna never expected to start the day with a hangover. But that was before Talyn's little gang decided it would be a great idea to have a housewarming party, one that just happened to have a bunch of alcoholic drinks they stole from who-knows-where. She had never tried the stuff, figured it would not be bad to just try one…

Several hours later she found herself fast asleep with one heck of a headache. When she managed to get out of bed, she had seen the time and realized how late she was going to be. Trying to run out the door, she tripped over a still-half-asleep Talyn. He had sleepily told her that she, in her inebriated state, had been frantic about someone finding her – and he therefore had stood vigilant in the night.

That had startled her, and Tianna had found herself thinking about it on her way to school. She figured she had been afraid of X.A.N.A. seeing her slacking, but it startled her that she had done something like that. _What if I said something I shouldn't have?_ she wondered as she looked at the school that loomed in front of her. _I could get innocent people involved in the never-ending war between X.A.N.A. and the LYOKO warriors…and as heartless as I've been in the past, I don't think I could do that. No, this is a personal war._

Surprisingly, she still remembered the layout of the campus. While students mingled on the campus, waiting for their first class with their friends, she walked into the administration building. The secretary, a blond, slightly older woman whose name escaped Tianna at the moment, looked up when she opened the door.

"How may I help you?" the secretary asked, fiddling with her glasses.

"I'm a new student," she said, indicating her packet of papers.

"Oh." The secretary – Ms. Weber, her name placard indicated – frowned. "We weren't expecting anyone…"

"It was a rather recent decision."

Ms. Weber picked up her phone, pressing several numbers and talking in hushed tones. After a few moments, she looked up at Tianna and said, "Mr. Delmas will see you."

Nodding, she walked towards the door Ms. Weber had indicated. When she walked in, the principal was setting his phone down with a rather confused expression. He glanced at her, and then gestured for her to sit down. She handed him her packet, waiting for him to sift through the papers.

"Everything seems in order," he said after a few minutes. "I wish your parents had contacted us earlier though."

"I'm sorry." She gave him her best smile. "Sometimes my…parents are a little…absentminded."

"I will have Ms. Weber draw up a schedule for you," he told her as he reached again for his phone, "and have someone show you around the campus in the meantime."

"Thank you." She rubbed her arms, a chill running up her spine even though she was still bundled up in her coat.

A few minutes later, after she had exited Mr. Delmas's office and situated herself in one of the rather hard plastic chairs, a slightly overweight man entered the room. _My my, Jim hasn't changed very much,_ she thought wryly. He looked around the room, his eyes finally settling on her.

"You," he said, scratching his head, "you are Amelia Henson?"

_Because there are so many other people in here that could be her_. "That's me."

"Come with me."

Jim took her around the school, showing her the multiple buildings. He made sure to drill into her mind that the dormitories were off-limits to day students. _But I know all of this already_, she thought with a bored sigh. _Heck, I'm probably going to be bored with my classes, too. I just need to lure one of the LYOKO warriors…I can get that over with quickly… If I don't, there goes my sanity._

The bell for the first period of the day rang while Jim was still showing her around. It was still about another twenty minutes before he finally took her back to the administration building, satisfied with his tour guide skills. Ms. Weber was waiting for them, and handed Tianna a single slip of paper with her schedule on it. She gave another sigh as she dragged herself to the science building.

Her first period was Human Biology, on the second floor. While the teacher was not one she recognized – she had always had Ms. Hertz back in the day – she knew she would probably recognize most of the people in her class. With a sigh, she pushed open the door to the room.

"…and the parietal bone is here, while the occipital bone is inferior to it, with the lambdoid suture between them," the teacher, a Mr. Turner, was saying. He looked up from the skull he was pointing at and regarded her with an irritated expression. "Yes?"

"I'm in this class," she replied, not at all intimidated. "I'm new."

He sighed, and set the skull down on his desk. "There are empty seats in the back. Care to introduce yourself to the class?"

"Not particularly."

Shifting her backpack, she walked towards the back of the room. The teacher was right; there were two seats available in the last two rows. One was next to Nicolas, one of Sissi's lackeys – Tianna immediately dismissed that option. The last thing she needed to do was start something with that brat. However, her other option was equally as bad: a certain Ulrich Stern. Things had always been…strange, for lack of better words, with that certain LYOKO warrior.

"Well?" Mr. Turner asked, clearly impatient with her stalling.

With a suppressed sigh, she sat down next to the LYOKO warrior. If X.A.N.A. was keeping an eye on her, for he surely was, he would want to see her making progress. That would involve associating with those she had betrayed so many times. Propping her head on her hand, she leaned forward and pretended to pay attention to the structure of the skull. Through the curtain of her hair, she studied the brunette next to her.

He was staring out the window with an absentminded look, and Tianna figured he was probably thinking about Yumi. The last time she had checked on them, the two had had a fight over the phone about the whole "distance" issue that they seemed to be having. Cautiously, almost afraid to speak to one of _them_, she opened her mouth – but no sound came out. She frowned, closing her mouth, then tried again.

"Hi," she squeaked out. Her face flushed as she heard her own voice, and she said in a much more normal voice, "I'm…Amelia."

He nodded at her, uninterested. "Ulrich."

"Do you think that I could borrow your, um, notes?" she asked, internally face-palming. It was a way to catch him later when he was with his friends, to give back his notes. But it was also an incredibly stupid way. _I'm smarter than this…right?_

Without looking at her, he slid his binder over to her. "Here."

"I…I'll return it when I'm done," she said quietly, fingering it.

Once again, he merely nodded at her. She frowned, leaning forward to hide it with her hair. _If this is how they're all going to be, this could get difficult._

–

By the time lunch rolled around, Tianna wished there was another way to capture one of the LYOKO warriors. It was X.A.N.A.'s fault she knew too much – and so far, the classes proved to be rather simplistic for her. As if the other supernatural forces were also against her, she had found that only her first class had a LYOKO warrior in it. All the others did not.

She was sitting on one of the benches outside the cafeteria, copying notes she did not need while eating a sandwich she had hastily grabbed on her way out of her apartment, when she heard footsteps approaching her spot. Looking up, she was surprised to see Talyn walking casually towards her, as if he too went to the school.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, shifting from her lounged position to a sitting one, so as to provide a space for him to sit.

"Thought I'd come by and see what was so special about this school you wanted to get into." He glanced around. "Honestly, there's nothing special here…only uptight teachers I've had to dodge."

She shrugged. "I like it here." _Liar._

"I hope you have the money to pay for the tuition here, though."

"Pardon?" She looked up sharply at him.

"The papers I got for you had the tuition on one of those 'pay later with high interest rates' plans," he said, shrugging. "I don't have the money to fund your curiosity."

"But…well…I…" She shut her mouth, simply at a loss for words.

"At least the papers you have will allow you to get a decent job," he continued, and she could tell he was amused with her situation. "Could probably find somewhere that would pay you under the table, get enough to pay month by month."

With a frown, she looked away and mulled over the thought. It was not like it was difficult to steal anything else she needed, so the money could go straight to her tuition. _If things get really bad, I can always rig an ATM with a nice electric shock to give me what I need._

"When do the bills start coming?" she finally asked, looking back at him.

"Soon...I wired them to an account I have," he answered, then pointedly added, "A rather empty account with only enough money to keep me from getting fees."

She pursed her lips. "I guess I'll start looking after school today. Not that I really have a choice."

He smiled at her, standing and patting her head. "I knew we'd see eye to eye on this. See you later, Amelia."

Groaning, she watched him walk away. Just as he left, she heard the door to the cafeteria open. She heard a gasp, and the shuffling of feet over to her bunch. Glancing up, she saw the one and only Sissi rushing over to her, but her eyes were still fixed on Talyn's leaving form.

"Who is _that_?" she asked, her eyes wide.

_My neighbor._ But deciding that she did not want Sissi snooping into where she lived, Tianna said, "A friend."

"A friend, or a _friend_?" Sissi apparently did not care that she was talking to someone she did not know, when typically she would treat someone like Tianna as inferior in all aspects.

"A…friend."

She frowned as a small twinge of annoyance flickered somewhere in her subconscious. _I just don't want to subject him to someone like Sissi Delmas._ The dark-haired girl watched Talyn leaving for a few more seconds before turning back to Tianna.

"I'm Sissi," she said suddenly, as if she was remembering her manners. "Think you could introduce us?" _Manners…yeah, maybe they're not there._

"We'll see." Tianna shuddered, wondering if she just sentenced herself to incessant pestering from the principal's daughter.

"Thanks!" Sissi chirped, then seemed to float away back into the cafeteria.

Watching her leave, Tianna then let her eyes travel across the windows. They stopped when she saw the LYOKO warriors at their table. Suddenly, the binder on her lap seemed heavier, and she sighed. _It's time to get this over with. Operation: Infiltration is now in effect. Yipee.

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_A/N: Reviews make the world go 'round...especially when I'm getting hits from around the world. (Seriously, I check my traffic stats and I'm like O.O at some of the places I get hits from. But I do love my readers!) So please review! :)


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: I exist! EGADS. Someone must have divided by zero.

...

Anywho. I'm not the happiest with this chapter, but I've had it sitting on my hard drive for months and decided it isn't changing, no matter how many times I stare at it. Therefore. Here it is, for all your critical reading enjoyment. Read, review, yadda yadda etcetera.

And those of you that keep track of my AAC? I'm lazy. I'm sorry. It'll be up when I finish writing Ilki's part.

**Disclaimer:** See previous chapters.

* * *

Opening the door to the cafeteria was like getting hit with a sound wave. The outside had been quiet, serene, with birds chirping. Yet the moment she walked into the boisterous room, all thoughts of peace were shattered. _I have a mission to do,_ Tianna thought as she gripped the binder tightly. _And it doesn't involve sitting around in La-La land._ Her grip tightened as she walked closer to the table, her knuckles turning white.

Ulrich was sitting with his usual group of friends, the LYOKO warriors she had come to know. She dragged her eyes over each and every one of them, a strange, nostalgic feeling welling up inside her. With Yumi and William gone, only five remained. Jeremy, still wearing the same style of glasses, was, as usual, paying attention to his laptop. Next to him sat the pink-haired Aelita, whose hair had grown out past her shoulders. She had filled out into a womanly body, one she pressed close to Jeremy as she watched whatever he was doing on his laptop.

Across from them, taking the window seat, was Ulrich. He was doing as he had done in their Human Biology class – staring out the window with a blank look on his face. Next to him sat the dark-haired Sam, technically her rival. Her fists clenched as she studied the teen that had become beautiful. With tactfully highlighted hair and a body like Aelita's, she could easily catch any guy she wanted. She, like the pinkette, was leaning over the other boy next to her.

Tianna forced herself to look at the blond at the end of the table. Instantly, she felt a pang of pain as she studied his handsome face, his trademark blond hair in its LYOKO spike. He was smiling at whatever Sam had said, a smile that reached his eyes. _So...they must be on an up-side in their relationship_, she thought as she released her death-grip on the poor binder, instead fisting her other hand. _And he's totally forgotten me, then. _She felt a twinge of pain, and realized her nails at drawn blood from her palm.

Releasing her hands, she shook the one slightly to get rid of the tension. Holding the binder against her chest, she took a deep breath and walked over to that table. It took all of her strength to put on a neutral, innocent look as she stopped at the end of the table, catching their attention.

"Um...hi," she squeaked, and inwardly groaned. Clearing her throat, she held out the binder. "Ulrich...here's your Human Bio binder. Thanks, for, uh, letting me copy your notes."

He turned briefly from the window, nodding at her as he took it from his hands. As quickly as he had turned towards her, he turned back to the window. Aelita frowned at him, but her attention refocused on Tianna's nervous-looking form.

"Don't mind him," the pinkette said quickly, and she smiled. "He's a human iceberg. We're not, though."

"Are you new?" Sam piped up, giving her an uncharacteristic, gentle smile. "I've never seen you around before."

_So, now you're nice. You wouldn't be if you knew who I really was. _"I'm Amelia. And yeah, I'm...new. Today's my first day, actually."

"Ah." Aelita gestured to the empty seat next to her. "Sit down; we don't bite."

She hesitated, but forced herself to take the seat. X.A.N.A. was no doubt watching her right now, and she knew he wanted her to get to know them again. He did not care about the pain she was in as she sat down, eying her unsuspecting victims.

"So, you a day student or you boarding?" Sam asked, turning her attention fully from Odd.

"Day student."

"Well, welcome to Kadic!" The pinkette smiled gracefully again, before nudging the boy next to her. "Come on, Jeremy. Meet the new girl."

He pushed his glasses farther up his nose as he leaned past his girlfriend. "Hello, I'm Jeremy."

Somehow, his friendly disposition still made her feel as if he was studying her, as if he suspected something from her. _But I have yet to do anything, so there's nothing to be suspicious of. I'm just overreacting._

"And this lovable blond is my boyfriend, Odd," her rival said, elbowing said boy.

"Hi there!" He held up his one hand in a peace sign, oblivious to the briefest flash of pain that crossed her eyes.

"Well...it's nice meeting you guys," she murmured, focusing on the table in front of her. "It's nice to, uh, get to know people, since it's my first day and all."

The warning bell sounded, and she sprang up with inhumane speed. _I have to get out of here,_ she thought as she calmed herself down, pushing the chair in with a loud scraping sound. Smiling sheepishly at the looks the LYOKO warriors were giving her, she slung her messenger bag over her shoulder.

"Aa...don't wanna be late or anything," she said, adjusting the strap to hide her nervousness. "So I guess I'll, um, see you guys around?"

Before they could reply, she spun around and quickly walked out of the cafeteria.

–

It was not the brightest idea to skip her afternoon classes on the first day, but Tianna did not care. Instead, she practically ran from the Kadic campus until she was several blocks away, stopping to catch her breath on a bench. She was not tired from the running; no, she was mentally tired. Facing the LYOKO warriors had taken more out of her than she thought, leaving her an emotional train wreck on the bench. Putting her head in her hands, she cried for the first time in years.

Crying was a peculiar sensation to her, one she was not quite sure she would ever understand. The feeling of hot tears streaking down her cold face, freezing as they hit the ground – it was unusual. She took of her glove, wiping at the salty drops and staring at them. They twinkled in the afternoon sun, looking much nicer than the emotion they tended to symbolize. With a disgusted grunt, she wiped her hands on her jeans and put her glove back on. _I don't have time for this,_ she thought as she blinked away the last of her tears, her mental walls back in place. _Right now, I have to find a way to pay for Kadic for at least a month._ One person would know where to go.

She was lucky enough to find him at the apartment complex, in the apartment he had claimed as his own. After just about banging the door down, he finally saved said door by whipping it open with an irritated expression. Matching it with her own, she crossed her arms and found her more attitude-filled voice.

"You told me I needed a job that pays well. So tell me where I can find one."

"Shouldn't you be in school?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, his irritation starting to melt away.

"Decided to skip the last few classes, 'cause they were the boring ones."

He laughed, a laugh that made her narrow her eyes at him. "All this work to go there...and you're skipping..."

"I'm a teenager, Talyn," she ground out. "I can do whatever I bloody well please if it suits my hormones. Now, job opportunities."

"You'll need to find one of the shadier places, that pays under the table, if you wanna afford Kadic," he said, and she could tell he was holding in laughter. "Don't kill me, but I think I know a place that you could get paid really well at..."

And that was how she ended up on one of the shadiest streets in the district, at one of the worst clubs.

–

Her boss, a John Hunter, had not cared that she was under eighteen. Neither did he care that if he got caught hiring her at the club, he would face jail time. _Just the type of person who won't look into my background, who won't notice that I'm not really...well, real, _Tianna thought as she balanced six plates of food on her arms. _And, between tips and work, I should just barely make enough for each month's payment. As long as I work every night, weekends, holidays, and I don't spend any of it._

With that final, slightly glum thought, she took the plates of appetizers to their respective tables, ignoring the catcalls she got on the way there. _And, of course, my tips will skyrocket if I wear an outfit like this. X.A.N.A., somehow I get the feeling you're enjoying this. _She found a bit of consolation in the fact that she was not degrading herself to the level of dancing on tables and laps. This consolation disappeared when, as she walked by a particularly loud and vulgar table of men, one reached out and slapped her behind.

Somehow, she struggled through the hours she had to put in. In the middle of it all, she had decided that Talyn was to blame; therefore, she had spent the better half of the night thinking of ways to kill him. As she walked back to her apartment complex, she glared at inanimate objects that happened to be in her way. A trash can here, a bench there, a bank building across the street...

Pausing, Tianna studied the bank building. An ATM stood proudly on the side, illuminated by a single light above the screen. No one was around at that time of night, considering how late she had to work in "that" district. Sure, there probably were enough cameras around that had every vantage point of the surrounding area, but that did not worry her. What truly worried her was working at that bar for that many hours every night for the rest of her time on earth.

Chewing on her lip, she weighed her options. It was not beyond her abilities to walk over, short out the cameras, and rig the ATM to give her cash. She could even pull out more than she needed, so that way she had spare cash, and when Talyn would deposit it in his account, it would not look suspicious. _But_, she wondered, _will I really stoop that low? Am I really this desperate to go this far, wreck this much havoc, so that I can survive for a few weeks? I'm acting as if I'm going to be staying here for longer..._ Mental images of her night flashed through her mind, along with the notion that X.A.N.A. had more than likely been watching and enjoying it. She grit her teeth, and pulled the hood of her jacket down farther. _Yes, I will stoop that low._

Crossing the street with a purposeful stride, she then checked her surroundings briefly. Electricity arced between her hands when she noted that no one was around to watch her.

Innocent snowflakes fell around her as she added yet another crime to her resume.

–

Talyn did not look fazed by the fact that Tianna was knocking on his apartment door after midnight. In fact, he seemed wide awake, and curious as to why _she_ was still up and about. Without any preamble, she reached into her purse and withdrew an overflowing envelope of bills. She thrust it towards him, a glare accompanying it.

"There's the money for this month's bill," she said, flatly.

With a raised eyebrow, he took the envelope and opened it. "Even someone as gorgeous as you, Tianna, couldn't have earned all this tip money in one night. Especially" - he held up one of the one-hundred dollar bills - "in these bills."

A blush rose to her cheeks as her mind stopped on the fact that he had called her "gorgeous". She could not remember the last time someone had made her blush, nor could she comprehend _why_ she was doing so. With a mental slap, she forced the color down and focused on her words.

"Don't ask where I got it. I wasn't staying in the place if I didn't have to, so I found an alternate way of making money."

"Is that so?" His one eyebrow somehow managed to raise another inch as he eyed her up and down.

"I-If you're implying what I _think_ you're implying," she sputtered, the color returning to her cheeks, "then you are still _far_ from the truth."

"Am I, now?" He seemed to find her flustered side humorous as he asked her the question in an almost mocking tone.

"_Yes_. I don't do those sort of things, and I would _never_ be caught dead selling myself to perverted strangers."

He laughed, and she scowled at him. Slowly, deliberately, he set the envelope down on some hidden piece of furniture while watching her watch his every move. There was something about his demeanor that sent her on edge, making her tense, yet she did not feel as though she expected an attack. No, she felt almost...nervous, a sensation she had not felt for so long that it was as foreign to her as humanity was to X.A.N.A..

Talyn reached out a hand, and in her mental confusion, she did not realize that fact until his fingers connected with her cheek. Instantly, she felt herself grow hot in embarrassment – to be touched in any way was also new to her, in the sense that she had not felt that way since the last time she was on earth. Her reaction was slow; instead of batting his hand away, she looked at him quizzically.

"Does that mean, gorgeous," he said quietly, almost huskily, "that you're available to someone who _isn_'_t _so much of a stranger?"

With an indignant huff, she forced her emotions back into check long enough to swat his hand away and level him with a withering glare. "What part of 'I don't do those sort of things' did you not understand?"

He merely chuckled as she spun on her heel and walked away. Tianna, for her part, remained irritated until she was safely hidden away in her own apartment. It was there that she collapsed on the floor, her head thunking against the door as she tilted it back. _That sensation...I haven't felt that way since... No, even with Odd, I never felt __**that**__ way. What is going on with me?_

* * *

_Review if you wish; I do read them, they do motivate me. See you in another six months! (Just kidding! Hopefully.)_


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Everyone, check outside to see if the apocalypse is coming. I'VE UPDATED.

Q: WHY HAS IT TAKEN SO LONG?11

A: Well, that's simple, really. I finally escaped the mentally unhealthy home I lived in, ran away with a guy I met on World of Warcraft, and now live on the other side of the United States. It's taken a bit to settle. That and this inspiration didn't hit me until 1 AM. I typed this out in two hours with about six hours of sleep under my belt. So. I hope it's good.

I have a kitten on my boobs. He helped write this. Everyone thank kitten.

**Disclaimer:** See previous ones.

* * *

"Quel est le temps fait-il aujourd'hui?" Ms. Roux, the remedial French teacher, looked around at the students in the class, seeking out her victim. (_What is the weather like today?)_

Tianna glared at nothing in particular; the gears in her mind merely used class time to plot and consider her options. Around her, the few students in remedial French did their best to remain as small and insignificant so as to not be the next victim. The class was a waste of time for her, she had decided the first time she walked into it. Principal Delmas had assumed that because she was from America and not France, she automatically did not understand the native language. After all, that could be the only reason her parents sent her to an English school and not a private French school, right? Wrong. She was a program. Languages had been some of the first data she had received.

"Julien," Ms. Roux finally decided upon, "répondez à la question, s'il vous plaît." (_Answer the question, please.)_

"Ahh...umm..." Julien, a short boy of some Asian heritage Tianna neither knew nor cared about, barely managed to spit out in quite broken French, "Il est...était...la pluie-ing...?" (_It is...was...rain-ing?)_

"Non, Julien, non." The teacher shook her head sadly.

None of the other victims the teacher picked on seemed to be able to properly form the correct answer. Tianna found herself mentally banging her head against the desk – she wanted to get out of this class, maybe get some fresh air. Classrooms reminded her too much of her mission. _That's it. I need to get out of here. Now._

Ms. Roux halted abruptly from her pacing when Tianna stood. "Y at-il un problème, Tianna?" _(Is there a problem?)_

"Il a neigé hier, mais aujourd'hui, il n'est que légèrement nuageux. Il fait froid dehors, aussi. Puis-je aller à l'infirmière encore?" The words and sentence structure were correct, she knew, although she would not be able to pass as a native speaker. _Good enough for this class, though. Let me go, idiot. (It snowed yesterday, but today it is only slightly cloudy. It's cold outside, too. Can I go to the nurse yet?)_

The leftover snow from the past few days' snowstorm crunched under her boots as she left the Language and Writing building. A few students mingled about; it seemed that this was a popular afternoon free period for those that were not stuck in remedial classes. She did not make eye contact as she reflexively scanned the nearby area – she knew naught if she looked for threats, danger, the LYOKO warriors, or all three. Lady Luck seemed to have decided that that cold day was not one she would spend with the little mole, as Tianna made eye contact with Aelita.

"Amelia! Hey!" The pinkette raised a hand in a wave from a little enclave in the building next door. Sam, who was next to her, also looked up and smiled in a greeting.

It took every ounce of her will to not cringe, to not turn and run in the completely opposite direction. Aelita always had come off to her as the friendly type, quick to try and see the good in people rather than the bad. _It'll be her downfall, really,_ she thought as she forced a smile onto her face and approached the two teens.

"Afternoon, everyone," she said simply as she wrapped her arms around her torso in a sort of self-hug.

"We hadn't seen you since the day you sat with us at lunch, so I just wanted to make sure we didn't scare you away or anything." Aelita's smile was so innocently sincere, it almost made her want to not try and capture one of them to please X.A.N.A.. Almost.

"I've been using all my free time to run back to my little apartment. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to unpack everything."

Sam laughed. "I remember trying to fit everything into the small dorms we have here. It took forever."

"Well, whenever you're done, you're welcome to sit with us at lunch anytime. It's been a while since we've had a friendly face around," Aelita said with a giggle.

_If only you knew._ Through a forced smile, she managed, "Thanks! I'll definitely take you up on that. You guys seem really cool and all–"

"Amelia!"

Sissi's voice cut through the cold like a razor. Tianna swore her ears rung slightly from the pitch as the girl practically skipped over, the glaringly pink, supposedly "cute" winter get-up standing out from the snow like a sore thumb. Sidling up to her, the principal's daughter was all smiles and niceness. Aelita and Sam were ignored like last month's celebrity gossip magazine.

"I've been looking all over for you all day!" she gushed. "I've been wanting to ask if you and that incredibly hot friend of yours would be interested in going clubbing tonight. You wouldn't believe it, but I managed to find a way into _the_ club of all clubs in this city, and –"

"Hi, Sissi, how nice to see you," Sam deadpanned. "No, no, Aelita and I weren't having a conversation with her. It's totally cool for you to interject and deliberately ignore us."

She sniffed. "Good. Now, as I was saying..." Pausing, she gave the two LYOKO warriors a once-over. "Well, what're you two still doing here? You're not invited, and I don't want to talk to you, so beat it."

"Puh-lease, like we would even want to go to some place _you're_ recommending. Knowing you, it's probably one of the stupidest places around."

"It is not! What would you know of clubs? All you ever go to is punk-whatever places that'd make any sane person fear for their lives."

"Sam..." Aelita sighed; said girl fumed.

"If it's such a good place, then, I bet 'daddy' would love to know where his little girl is going so he can 'praise' her for such a good decision!"

"You'll say _nothing_ to my father, you hear me? Nothing!"

"Why shouldn't I? Give me one good reason."

Tianna sighed; her ears were ringing and she really, _really_ wanted to get away from this conversation as quickly as she could. "Sissi, just invite them. If the place is as good as you say, you probably won't even see them past the front door."

She seemed to consider this for a moment, before: "Ohmygod, does that mean you and your friend will come? Because I really want to meet him for real."

_Wait._ She backtracked through the conversation, before mentally face-palming and cursing herself out. What could have been a quiet evening of plotting and brooding had turned into a typical teen party night, and all because she wanted peace and quiet at the moment.

Apparently her silence meant she acquiesced, for Sissi turned to the two other girls and, with a dramatic sigh, said, "Fine, you guys and the rest of your stupid gang can come. Meet on the corner two blocks down from the gate at ten at night and I'll get all of us in. I mean, if you guys _decide_ to come. Totally cool if you don't, as long as you don't say anything to your father."

Whatever Sam decided to reply with was cut off when Aelita slapped a hand over her mouth. "We'll think about it. Come on, Sam. Amelia, it was nice talking to you again! Hope to see you around."

And with that, the LYOKO warriors left Tianna in the clutches of a plotting Sissi. _I'll get you guys for this, too._

–

At eight in the evening, when she was sure she had heard Talyn go into his apartment, Tianna swallowed her pride and pushed herself to his doorstep. He answered a few moments after she knocked, and looked a bit surprised, if not pleased, to see her scowling on the other side.

"And what can I do for the pretty lady?"

Biting back the words 'hate you so much right now', she averted her eyes. "Long story short: go out with me tonight."

"I always thought the guy was supposed to do the asking," he said, an eyebrow raised.

"Listen, I got swindled into going to some stupid club by the principal's lunatic daughter and she wants to meet you because you're hot. Now can you scratch my back on this one and save my eardrums from her temper fit if you don't show up?" She carefully omitted that, after consideration, she found that if the LYOKO warriors did make an appearance, she would have the perfect opportunity to observe them in an informal situation – if not manage to smuggle one away for X.A.N.A..

He laughed. Full-on, held-his-sides laughed. In retrospect, she figured that she did sound crazy, if not completely insane. But she was running out of time and options, and she needed this to work. To do that, she needed Talyn.

"A chance to meet some of those crazy kids at the uppity private school? Normally I'd pass, but it is a chance to go clubbing with you..." The look he gave her as he gave her a once-over sent shivers down her spine. "First, before I make a decision. I need to see your closet."

At first, she was not quite sure why this was a prerequisite to his decision. She quickly found out, however, when, after rooting around the clothes she had stolen, he pulled out clothes she had grabbed in haste and normally would never wear. The sleeveless, skin-tight, too-short-to-really-be-considered-a-dress dress in all black was draped over one arm, while he held in one hand a pair of fishnet stockings and in the other, knee-high, high-heeled boots. The completely black ensemble seemed to please him, judging by the slightly leery smile on his face.

"If you wear these, Amelia, I will go clubbing with you."

"...it's negative something outside and you want me to wear _these_?" _Nevermind how completely... I can't even fathom... _

He jerked his head in the direction of a leather jacket. "Wear that there. Once you're inside, you'll be fine. Now, do we have a deal?"

"...I hate you, Talyn. I really do." _Chalk up another one to the list of "Things I Will Be Getting Back At The LYOKO Warriors For"._

–

Talyn was enjoying her suffering far too much, Tianna decided. He found entertainment in her freezing on the way to meeting her 'crazy private school friends', in watching her stumble around in stiletto boots. More entertainment was found as Sissi went psycho fan-girl on him, though she took solace in the fact that _all_ the LYOKO warriors had been dragged out by Sam (who claimed it was to see what sort of dive Sissi could find).

Sissi, however, held true to her word and got them into a club that pumped loud, bass-driven music into the air and alcoholic drinks into the hands of minors. Tianna grabbed onto the distraction like a lifeline; the whole walk there had been filled with Sissi hanging off the arm of Talyn who was watching her and sending distinct feelings coursing through her veins, _and_ she was forced to watch Sam-Odd time. If a computer program could get drunk, she would do so.

Nicolas and Herve had tagged along, and she watched with a slight smirk as they attempted to catch Sissi's attention on the dance floor. It looked more like fishes out of water, but she was not quite sure she could do better. Her attention flitted amongst the chaos in the club, but centered again on that damning Talyn as he broke away from doting Sissi and approached her.

"Stop sulking in the corner and come dance with me," he said, holding out his hand.

_Am I really sulking? Good god, I'm acting more and more like an antisocial computer program every day._ She gave the room one last sweep – Ulrich was by the bar, sulking himself, while Jeremy was next to him on his phone; Aelita, Sam, and Odd were on the dance floor – before giving in to being human. Never would she admit that the thrill of that whole "nightlife" thing appealed to her...as did Talyn.

The beat was catchy, annoyingly so. Her body swayed to the commanding beat easily while she quickly studied those around her to find out what to do with the rest of herself. _There's no way I'm putting my hands on Talyn like that... No way I'm pressing myself against him like that... Not a teenager, Tianna. X.A.N.A. may be perverted, be he won't tolerate this. Mission. Focus on the mission. Not the strange...tingling...thrilling sensations Talyn creates..._

She almost – _almost _– gave in for just a moment. Almost pressed her body against his, danced against him, when sudden movement caught her attention. Sam and Odd had stopped dancing, and from the looks of it, were exchanging heated words on the dance floor. And – _was that Jeremy?_ – for some reason, Jeremy was pushing through the crowd towards the couple and Aelita.

With what she hoped were little, semi-seductive, playful steps of catch-me-if-you-can, she goaded Talyn into following her through the throng and closer to Sam, Odd, and Aelita. Focusing hard, past the music, the thrumming bass, she struggled to hear what the couple were arguing about, while convincing herself it was all for the mission.

"...how could you not tell that you weren't dancing with me anymore, Sam? He doesn't even look like me! No way he could feel the same!" Odd's face seemed to be a cross of anger and hurt.

"It's loud and dark in here! How could I tell? I was caught up in the music!"

"Your _hands_ were all over him and, let's face it, Sam, you were _grinding_ on him!"

"I thought he was you!"

"Yeah, right! Like I'm supposed to believe that! If you wanted to sex some guy on the floor, it should have been me – your, you know, _boyfriend_."

"I wasn't- You're impossible, Odd! I came here to be with you, and you won't believe an honest mistake! God!"

Sam stormed off the floor, towards the back of the building, while Odd 'hmphed' and turned to Aelita with a "Can you believe the nerve of her?" look. Inside, Tianna laughed at their misfortune before mentally slapping herself. As much as she hated Sam, she did not particularly like to see Odd in pain, either. Her attention at their little lovers' quarrel abruptly shifted, however, when Jeremy finally reached the group.

"Guys, Franz Hopper just called. Something's going on in LYOKO."

* * *

As always, reviews are appreciated. Seriously. I need to know if my ramblings in the middle of the night need to be revised or not. Because I have an idea for the next chapter, but that will need to change if this chapter needs to be revised.


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: I live! It's been a bit, but I've been distracted. TERA, and stuff. Speaking of. Anyone gets the reference of TERA in here, you get... virtual stuff. Yeah. Ain't that awesome.

Insert typical disclaimer/claimer here.

* * *

Tianna frowned slightly as she heard Jeremy over the din of the club. _Problems? In LYOKO? X.A.N.A. surely would have let me know if anything was going on. I'd have been called __back, or something along those lines. _Her dancing stilled, and she ignored the confused look Talyn gave her when she withdrew from him. When he reached out to her, either to pull her back or check to see what was wrong, she felt the inside of her left boot vibrate. She ducked his reach as she stooped down to grab it. It was not a phone call; it was a message from an unknown user.

**Here is your opportunity. I've created a diversion. Get the one they call Sam.**

Her eyes widened at the text – _no, he coul__dn't possibly want her as a minion. There's absolutely no way! _But there was no denying it was her master's wish; the following text read simply: **Now**. The phone almost slipped from her grasp when Talyn snagged her wrist and pulled her up against him. _N__ot now_, she told her body as it jumped at the feeling of being back against him.

"Where's Sam?" Jeremy asked the group at the same time that Talyn whispered in her ear, "And where do you think you're going?"

"I'll text her on our way," Aelita said. "She and Odd had another fight."

"No," Tianna murmured, and ignored the confused look her dancing partner shot her.

She needed a distraction, and she needed it now. A spark of electricity danced from her free hand – unnoticed in the already fluorescent and flashy lights – towards one of the outlets in the wall. The events that followed happened in a blur for her, and not just because of her enhanced speed. All of the lights and the music disappeared, leaving panting and groaning people in the dark. Confusion broke out shortly afterward, where she heard the LYOKO warriors fumbling their way out as cell-phones began to be used as light sources. She, meanwhile, tore away from Talyn, zipped through the crowd, and left in the same manner Sam did.

Once she was free of Talyn's intoxicating presence and all the noise, she found she could think much clearer. The cold, nippy air of the night filled her lungs while she focused her energy to her ears. Electricity cackled through strands of her hair as she enhanced her hearing to levels unknown to mankind. _Aelita said she would be sending Sam a text. If I can tune into __the towers__, I can find the location of the phone... Listen to me. God almighty, I'm actually capturing this girl for X.A.N.A.. I'm going to have__ to work with her without killing her. What is wrong with me?_

She sorted through the messages floating between her ears and into the computer that was her "brain". When she found the one that traced back to Aelita, she followed it the other way towards, presumably, Sam. Racing through the streets in naught but the short dress and boots, she somehow managed to only once faceplant into a snow bank. She was pretty sure she broke a heel, but was running too fast to truly notice it.

_There_. Slowing down, she rounded a corner to find Sam cutting through an alleyway to the next street. The LYOKO warrior was just pocketing her phone as Tianna crunched audibly through the snow, making her turn. Sam's eyes widened a bit at seeing her, and they instinctively swept over her, as if looking for something. _Possession, likely. Oh, poor little Sam. I will enjoy this._

"There you are!" Tianna made a display of breathing hard and doubling over, as if she had run the whole way to find her.

"Amelia…! What- What are you doing here?" She looked around, suspiciously.

Holding her hands up, she began to approach her. "I saw you run out of the club upset. I only wanted to check on you, make sure everything was okay…?"

Sam seemed to relax after a moment; her searching stopped, her guard dropped. "Oh, yeah, this is pretty normal. I actually just got a text from him – we were going to go talk it out. Was just about to go meet him."

"Ahh… I guess I'll leave you to it, then."

"Thanks!" She scratched the back of her head. "And, uh, thanks for checking up on me—"

She was interrupted as Tianna pivoted on one foot, and brought her other leg up to spin-kick Sam in the face. It would have worked, except she forget about that broken heel; without calculating the difference in height, her kick landed more in the warrior's chest. Nevertheless, the surprise and force of the kick was enough to stun her and make her stumble back.

"Ame— What the—"

Returning to both feet, Tianna then crunched down and prepared to lunge. Yet, Sam, who had quickly switched into defensive mode, slid away – and let her crash into the snow bank against a nearby trash bin. Her ears picked up the curse that the girl let loose as she turned to run.  
"Oh, no, you don't," she hissed, and flung out an arm.

She was lucky that no security cameras were in the alley as she sent a ball of electricity straight at Sam's back. The girl shrieked as it connected, having not paid attention as she attempted to run away. Shaking the snow off, Tianna leaped forward once more and covered Sam's mouth as she fell to her knees; the back of her outfit had burned off, and left a severe burn on the majority of her back.  
"I didn't have to do that, you know," she whispered in her ear as her other hand tightened painfully on Sam's arm. "But come to think of it, I'm really glad I did."

A brief, less painful electrical shock was sent through her arm and into her system, and Sam knew no more.

–

X.A.N.A. was not making this easy for her, and Tianna knew that. She grumbled under her breath as she trudged towards the factory, an unconscious warrior over her shoulder. This, she had come to realize, was not only a grab at a new minion, but also a test of strength – of how well she would perform. _Though if he'd have actually paid attention to what I was up to, he'd know I have no issue attacking Sam and bringing her in. So the test, clearly, is not that much of a test._ Her thoughts paused as she crossed the bridge, and she realized that taking the elevator would bring her up on the cameras.

Veering to the right, she headed for the more complicated, staircase-and-ladder-filled way. Electricity rippled through her hair as she tuned in to the frequency the warriors spoke to Jeremy through, and she idly listened as she hoisted herself into the virtualization room.

"Any word from Sam, yet, Jeremy?" Aelita asked.

"No, but I'll send word as soon as she does."

"She's probably ignoring her phone, thinking it's Odd." Ulrich sounded mildly entertained at the thought of other relationship problems.

"I've called her three times," Jeremy replied. "You'd think she'd have checked, by now."

"We always have to consider that X.A.N.A. may have gotten to her," the quiet voice of Franz Hopper chimed in.

Tianna paused midway through her temporary rewiring of two of the virtualization pods. Franz – he had always been so kind to her, even as she struggled to bring him back to the real world. _And here I am, breaking it all down again…_ Her wrist burned, and she shook the thoughts of her head. With the wiring complete, she hoisted Sam into one chamber and climbed into the other.

"Anyways, the tower should be northwest of you guys. Let's at least try to get it down so that Sam – if she's in trouble – will be free of it."

She waved her hand; electricity arced over and closed Sam's chamber doors before bouncing to her chamber and closing the doors. The rush of air and heat filled her senses, before she felt absolutely nothing.

"W-Wha— Franz, are you making any sense of this?"

"What's going on, Jeremy?" Aelita asked, as she picked up on the tone.

"Someone… Someone's being virtualized! By the whole system is screwy… I can't localize who, or where, or how many."

Franz audibly sighed. "X.A.N.A.. I don't know what he's up to, but this doesn't bode well."

She lost the frequency as the two were virtualized into another one of LYOKO's clones. This one resembled sector five – everywhere. This was where he had prepared for the conversion of the warriors, and he finally had a test subject. Sam remained unconscious, even in her digital form, as Tianna nudged her with her foot. Nodding to herself, she motioned for the prepared Scyphozoa-like creature to pick the warrior up.

X.A.N.A. had reused the texture, and the general idea, of the Scyphozoa to create a creature specifically for this purpose. It would hold Sam prisoner in an unbreakable – or so he said – field, and had the ability to brainwash her with a reformed version of what he used on William if they could not bring her to their side willingly. The latter had been added as an afterthought, one Tianna had offered a while back in an attempt to save her old friends. Now, though, with someone like Sam, she actually looked forward to the mental torture. _I've turned into a terrible creature…_ The whisper in her mind was dismissed as quickly as it came as she nodded to the tentacle creature to begin to force field.

"Excellent work, little one," came the somehow sinister, yet digital, voice of X.A.N.A. Smoke swirled around the room she was in, announcing his arrival. "You did exactly as you were told."

She remained silent.

The smoke chuckled. "You've successfully pulled one in; now you will break her, turn her to our side, and continue our work by capturing however many more we need to fulfill my destiny and crush any opposition."

She could not deny the twinge of malevolent joy at being the one allowed to break Sam. Ideas were already popping up in her head – the thought that her hatred and anger, even her jealousy, were helping X.A.N.A. conveniently avoided her train of thought.

"I've a feeling she'll be unconscious for some time, master," Tianna purred. "I may have done a bit of a number on her."

He merely chuckled once more. "Then I shall summon you when she awakes. I will not deprive you of the… joy… of being the first one she sees."

"Then I may return to Earth?" She could not hide the desire to go back to the place she could feel; the place where she could truly be haunted by the memories she held dear, instead of sitting in nothingness.

"So eager. I'd almost be convinced you've finally seen 'the light' as they call it, but I… have my reservations." The smoke swirled silently for a moment, before disbanding. "Your last task will be to show the LYOKO 'warriors' that they are not in control. My armies battle them on the true LYOKO – devirtualize them before they enter the tower, and show them our power."

The decree hindered her malevolent joy for just a moment; she had no qualms with the majority of the warriors, mostly just Sam. She did not feel the need to hurt them – in fact, she often wanted to be away from them, to observe them from the shadows. They were a different league than Sam. They were what she once considered friends. _But what would they describe me as…?_

"Is that hesitation I see?" the whispered voice of X.A.N.A. asked, a trail of smoke curling around her.

Her blank defense came up as quickly as she used to use it, before Earth had lulled her into a brief sense of freedom. "No."

"Good."

–

X.A.N.A. did not make the travel to the true LYOKO as difficult as it had been before. Instead, she found herself teleported and virtualized onto the top of a large outcropping of rocks in the mountain sector. The sounds of a fight reached her ears the moment her feet touched the ground; she was close. Immediately, she rolled and ducked behind one of the rocks. If the scanners on Jeremy and Franz's end could pick her up, she would at least be out of their line of sight.

Tuning in to the frequency the warriors used, she took a moment to see what lovely surprises X.A.N.A. had in store for her battle outfit. Until then, he had made sure to change her style every time he affected her – and until recently, she had been in a powerless form stuck in a tower like some twisted fairy tale character. As she looked down, she froze. Familiar long brown hair had shifted from her back, over her shoulder, and in front of her. _My appearance is that of my first human body… How fitting, X.A.N.A.. _ He was not letting the warriors go without them knowing she was back, and was his tool.

Her first thought, after the realization, was that her old powers would be back, too. This was quickly dismissed as she took in the rather interesting clothing – if it could be called that – she was in. She looked like something out of a bad online video game, or one of those ads that falsely advertises what one would see in such. The clothes were a shade lighter than her hair. She could see a cape that came above her knees and fingerless long gloves. The outfit appeared to cover her sides and one leg, but exposed the other leg and the entire middle of her upper body, with tall, high-heeled boots to match. Mentally cursing X.A.N.A. and the corruption that was the internet, she could only pray she had a decent weapon.

Standing, she heard, rather than felt, something shift on her back. Reaching behind, she pulled out from a holster an unstrung, ornate bow. She reached behind again to find a quiver, or some sort of arrows, but found none. _How does he expect me— Oh._ As she experimentally made the motion of nocking the bow, she found a pure energy arrow appeared in her hand, with a pure energy string.

Her experimentation with her new abilities ended abruptly as the squeal of a tarantula falling into the digital sea reached her ears. Peaking over the rock, she found only one tarantula left, and the three LYOKO warriors closing in fast. Grumbling to herself, she focused her attention on their talking frequency as she nocked her bow once more over the edge of the rock.

"Aelita, get to the tower, fast," Franz was saying. "We still haven't heard anything from Sam, and haven't been able to localize what happened with the virtualization process."

"This looks to be the last one," Ulrich grumbled.

"I hope so. Our scanners are starting to jumble up, now." Jeremy sounded somewhat exhausted, and perhaps even a bit exasperated with the whole situation.

Aelita was Tianna's first target; she was skirting the tarantula, attempting to get to the tower. She narrowed her eyes at the unsuspecting pinkette as her arm pulled back farther. The arrow would need a heck of a lot of strength to knock her out in one hit. It would also get rid of her element of surprise, something she was loathe to do. Smoke swirled through her hair, and she heard X.A.N.A.'s impatient whisper.

Her fingers twitched, and the energy arrow sang from the bow, directly aimed at the back of Aelita's head.

"Aelita! Oh, no! She just lost all her life points!"

A small, slightly sad smile crossed Tianna's face. The pinkette had always been nice to her, and she took no joy in knowing the girl was in trouble with he that claimed to be her master. She had kind of actually liked her, too. The thoughts were shaken from her head as she refocused; the tarantula was down, and Ulrich and Odd were looking for her.

"I'll check on her. Jeremy, try to help the others."

"Do you know what it was?" Odd asked, as he looked around.

"I don't, and I can't even tell you where it is. X.A.N.A. has really outdone himself, this time."

"We're probably going to need our vehicles." Ulrich twirled a saber as he paced.

"It'll take a minute. Stay close together until then."

She rolled to the side of another of the rocks, as Odd and Ulrich kept their weapons ready. They moved so that their backs were to each other, eliminating the chance of another headshot. She sighed as she raised the bow and formed another arrow – their constant moving would also prove to be a challenge. _I might have to reveal myself… X.A.N.A., you planned this all along, didn't you. You really wanted to hit their morale._ Drawing the arrow back, she followed their movement, and attempted to plot their course. A stray thought of wondering if her arrows could do more than penetrate crossed her mind, and she cocked her head to the side. Collateral damage could work in her favor, if she could just change her energy.

The more she focused on this experiment, the more she realized the arrow was changing colors from white to red. _I may have a shot at staying hidden, then, _she thought with a smile, before letting the arrow fly loose. It whizzed through the air, but just a little too far away from Ulrich's head. His eyes widened as the arrow narrowly missed his nose – and jumped back with Odd just in time as the arrow exploded in midair.

"Vehicles, Jeremy! We need them now!"

She cursed as she rolled out of sight, just as the vehicles materialized down below. She heard the sound of the hoverboard and hoverbike – and promptly sprinted in the direction of the nearest platform. Her running jump allowed her to get to the next platform, but not before Ulrich and Odd were high enough to see her.

"Over there!"

"What is it?" Jeremy asked. "My scanners are still shot."

She spun around as she landed, thanking Franz for not creating feeling in LYOKO as she could only imagine how much her feet would hurt from the impact in those heels. Firing off a quick arrow, she knew it was easily dodged before she rolled behind another rock.

"It- It's a person!" Odd seemed just as surprised as Ulrich.

"Try to get closer, but careful if you engage," Jeremy said. "See who it is!"

"It went behind that rock," Odd said. "Let's go!"

Ulrich was a melee user, while Odd was ranged. Tianna calculated her possible attacks as she heard them land, heard their footsteps approaching. She, it seemed, was ranged, unless…. She paused, and dismissed the arrow she had summoned to look at the bow. _Yes, smack someone hard enough with this__ – or even these heels, really –__ and I can get far enough back to fire a quick arrow._

"Hey… person!" she heard Odd call. "Are you a X.A.N.A. controlled freak or just some confused person?"

"I don't think they're going to respond," Ulrich deadpanned, and she heard the unsheathing of his dual sabers.

"Worth a shot."

"I'll go first, back me up."

Her grip tightened on her bow, and she waited. First she saw his saber; she backed up, and he felt around with it.

"I don't feel anything."

"X.A.N.A. wouldn't just hide, he'd attack full on."

She crouched low, like a coiled spring, until she saw the first flicker of Ulrich's face around the rock. In a flurry of movement, she jammed her bow into the ground, and used it as a pivot for a running spin-kick. She heard him grunt as he got stiletto heels in the face, and Odd cry out in surprise as he jumped back. Landing on her feet, she picked the bow back up and fired another exploding arrow – this time at his feet. Still reeling in stunned surprise, he did not notice the arrow until it exploded and successfully drained whatever life points the tarantulas had not taken off.

Before Odd could react, she turned, and sprinted behind yet another rock. She heard the sound of the hoverboard activate, and bided her time. _This is not how I wanted it to go. I did not want to be stuck with Odd, of all people._

"Whoa, X.A.N.A. has someone smart," Odd remarked, as Jeremy panicked over Ulrich's devirtualization. "Guess I better keep my eyes open – they can't get me from the sky."

"Be careful, Odd! And try to see who it is!"

"Yeah, yeah. You worry too much, Einstein. I got this!"

_You were always the confident one, even as the last man standing._ She nocked another arrow, and aimed at the sky. For a long moment, she waited for the first hint of the hoverboard. When she saw it, she released the straining arrow and nicked the tail end of the board – enough to send it spiraling and Odd flying.

"Careful, Odd!" Jeremy cried, yet again, as the background sounds of Franz, Aelita, and Ulrich came into the microphone.

Odd had landed just a few feet in front of her, on his back, sprawled out. She had flattened herself against the boulder, despite there being nothing between the two to keep him from recognizing her. _This is not how this should go. He should not be the one to recognize me. I need to devirtualize him, now._ Shakily, she readied the bow, only to hear X.A.N.A.'s voice slam into her mind.

**You will reveal yourself, Tianna! You will go over, and you will stare him down as you finish him. They must know who is in control!**

She shook her head violently, only to feel her control over her body falter for just a minute. It was a warning; either she do it, or she be forced to watch X.A.N.A. do it. His control over her at that point was something she absolutely despised, enough that it overcame her fear. Still shaking, she unstuck herself from the boulder and stood. As Odd caught his breath and began to sit up, she approached, and placed a heel on his stomach to push him back down. Instinctively, he raised an arm to fire an arrow – only to falter himself as he took in the original visage of Tianna.

There were no words, none that could be spoken, at least. If X.A.N.A. had controlled her, she knew he would have said some witty one-liner he had picked up on the internet. But no. She simply raised her bow and nocked an arrow. As his mouth opened, she released, and watched him devirtualize beneath her foot. Behind her, the tower deactivated of X.A.N.A.'s own volition.

No matter her feelings, the message had been sent. The mission continued.

* * *

If you review I am happy. That's really all I can say.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: I updated before a month has passed? The world must be ending, again!

Or I could have just whipped up a small, filler-esque chapter to tie up some loose ends.

Enjoy.

_Side Note: In case you did not notice, the first installment in this series is slowly being rewritten. Check it out for an actual decent beginning to this series! Also, a character sheet and covers for all three books are being developed for this series so that you, as readers, can get a better visual of what Tianna looks like and some eye-candy for the story. Check out my profile for the links!_

* * *

The next morning, while cold, was a crisp, sunny day. Sunlight streamed through the window as Tianna woke up, and she blearily rubbed her eyes. Objects refocused in her vision, and she sat up. It was time for the aftermath of last night's activities. While she stood in a warm, steamy shower, she idly massaged her head with shampoo.

With the warriors devirtualized, she had no knowledge of what had transpired between them after her appearance. She only knew they had spent several hours at the factory – likely searching for her or, more than likely, Sam – before they had left, leaving it safe for her to devirtualize and return home. X.A.N.A. had been as elated as a computer program could be, and had told her that she would be contacted when Sam awoke. Until then, she was to resume observing the warriors.

Curiosity had her wondering what they would do with Sam's disappearance. _Will they create a clone like they did with William? Or perhaps fabricate a story? If I remember correctly, her parents now live in France. They could come barking up the wrong tree in either case._ She rinsed her hair, scrubbed her body, and hopped out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around her, she exited the bathroom – only to find Talyn comfortably lounging on her bed.

"Definitely worth waking up for," he observed with a smirk as he eyed her up and down.

Her grip on the towel tightened as she scowled, an attempt to hide the flush on her cheeks. "The door was locked, or did you not notice when you traipsed in here?"

"You have very standard locks." He shrugged, with the smirk still in place.

He showed no intentions of leaving, and with a glance at the clock, Tianna knew she already was going to be late for class. _The last thing I need is an invitation for suspicion. I already disappeared from the club, and if they noticed and now see me late…._ She pushed her emotions aside and let her practical programming take over. Turning from Talyn, she moved over to her closet and began rifling for clothes.

"What do you want?" she finally asked when, after selecting her clothes, she noticed he still sat on her bed.

"You disappeared last night from the club, and came home quite late. Perhaps I was a bit..." his lips quirked upwards, towards a small smile, "…worried. Or maybe it's revenge for leaving me with that annoying chick."

"Well, I'm fine," she said, turning from him and dropping the towel. Her words were clipped and in monotone, although she knew he would notice nothing more than a change in attitude. It always surprised her how easily emotions divided a program and a human being. "And you have no logical explanation for revenge. I agreed to your terms, as you agreed to mine. I was not required to stay by your side all night."

Except for the steady sound of breathing, Talyn remained silent as she dressed. While throwing her damp hair up into a ponytail, she finally turned back to him. He sat, still, on her bed, though he had shifted position and was watching her with a slightly different emotion she could not pinpoint.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late." She brushed past the door, and grabbed the messenger bag by the front door.

Talyn, to her surprise, followed her, minus a coat. He did not seem perturbed by the cold, however, as he crunched through the semi-melted snow next to her. She huffed, and her breath came out visible. _And I'm the one who's a program,_ she grumbled to herself as goose-bumps rippled across her skin, underneath her jacket.

"So where'd you go?" he asked, and stuffed his hands into his jeans' pockets. "I noticed everyone except that annoying chick and her two… followers" – he grunted the word, sounding half-amused and half-disgusted – "left after the power outage."

"I got bored." As Kadic neared, she allowed her emotions to slowly override her programming. Acting like a program would do nothing for her if she was in a crowd that was unfamiliar with her mood swings. _Though that would mean Talyn is familiar, which would mean I've already spent too much time with him._ She scowled at the gates in the distance. "So I left, and jumped around a bit."

He faked a look of hurt. "And you left me behind?"

"I prefer to be alone, sometimes," she said with a pointed look in his direction.

He chuckled, but stopped short for seemingly no reason. She wrote it off as a quirk until she realized what he had seen: several police cars were parked outside of Kadic.

"Problem?" she asked, keeping her voice at a normal pitch so as to not reveal her own discomfort. _There's no way this has to do with Sam. The only people that know about it are me and the warriors… and they wouldn't have called the cops._

"Let's just say the police and I aren't on friendly terms," he muttered, before turning slightly towards the nearby cross street. "I'll be looking for you later, Amelia."

As she neared, she saw Jim talking to one of the men in uniform near the gates. Several others were walking into the campus, and the carried small cases of… something. Furrowing her eyebrows, she walked into Kadic unhindered. Whatever was going on did not concern her – yet.

She told herself she would find out what was going on through the rumor mill before the end of her first class; she was not disappointed. The class was allowed to switch seats whenever they chose to, something she had taken advantage of after her first day to sit a safe distance away from Ulrich. Her current table-mate was a brunette named Noemie, who was chatting across the aisle with another classmate about the situation.

What she heard made her blood freeze. Someone had reported Sam missing.

Instead of reviewing the notes before the biology test, she instead listened to Noemie while her brain struggled to process the information. Someone had seen Sam – and friends – leave the school grounds after hours, and Sam had never returned. A dorm check that morning had confirmed it. Her parents were unable to reach her when asked. The principal had come to the conclusion she had either run away – with no precedent – or she had been kidnapped when she snuck out.

_I'm assuming the warriors are the one who reported it. Based on that assumption, I can't figure out why they'd do that. Anyone who saw her leave would have reported it last night, and Sissi and company had no idea she was missing. I didn't report it. That leaves only the warriors. But why would they draw attention to—no. Wait. Perhaps they're trying to deflect the attention by taking it. They probably have some solid story drawn up, like Sam got in a fight, left, and they left trying to find her, but to no avail. The security footage would back that story up. They'd solve the problem of her missing without drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. Those little—_

Her thoughts were interrupted as Mr. Turner rapped the desk with his ruler.

"Ms. Henson, are you with us?"

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" She looked up, only to find him watching her with a grave expression.

"Mr. Delmas has called you and Mr. Stern to his office. Immediately."

She kept her expression carefully neutral to hide her racing thought processes. Ignoring the curious stares and whispers of her classmates, she stood, grabbed her bag, and left the classroom. She made it to the office in record time, considering how most tried to delay the inevitable. Sissi, Herve, Nicolas, and the LYOKO warriors – minus Sam – were already in the receptionist's office, sitting on the little plastic chairs. Ms. Weber looked over them with a nervous smile, before reaching for the phone. Tianna smiled back politely before taking the seat next to Sissi.

"I don't know who told my father about this, but I'll never invite them again!" the principal's daughter hissed in her ear.

Tianna fixed her with an innocent and confused expression, but Ms. Weber silenced her reply by informing them to remain silent before turning back to the phone. What seemed like hours but were mere minutes stretched by, and then the door to Mr. Delmas's office opened to reveal the slightly overweight man and a friendly-looking police officer. They were called in.

"Daddy, I swear—" Sissi started as soon as the door closed, only to be silenced by a withering glare.

"Never in my years presiding over this school have I had to face this problem," Mr. Delmas said in a deathly-calm tone. Only the perspiration on his forehead and his reddened cheeks betrayed how truly agitated he was. "We have rules for a reason, and this is why they should never be broken!"

"Mr. Delmas, I'm sure they understand the consequences, considering how close to home it was," the officer interrupted in an attempt to defuse the already-high-strung principal. "If you will allow me?"

He opened his mouth, and then closed it, before nodding. The officer turned to them.

"My name is Reynard. I'm just going to ask a few questions, and I'd like you to answer them honestly. Any information you have could help save your friend, so please come forward with it." He pulled out a notepad and a pen. "Mr. Delmas has already provided me with all of your names. Was this everyone you were with last night that you knew?"

_Talyn_. It suddenly dawned on her that she could blame this all on him. He had admitted to already having run-ins with the police. The police might believe her. It would take away all of the suspicion, and no one would miss him. _Except Anna. His friends. Me._ The last word of her thought train made her stop and reboot. She was not supposed to care. She was supposed to be efficient, ruthless when needed. And yet, she could not bring herself to say the name, to place any blame on him.

"She brought a friend."

Herve's voice startled her out of her introspective evaluation as she realized the gangly teen was pointing at her – and glaring. Or rather, alternating between glaring at her and glancing at Sissi. It did not take a genius to realize he was unhappy at Sissi's crushing on Talyn.

Officer Reynard cleared his throat and looked at her. "Is that so? Who did you bring, Ms." – he checked his notes – "Henson?"

Dodging the question would lead to suspicion, but her mind was deadest on not dragging Talyn into this. _My only hope is to pull off what the warriors are doing: draw attention to deflect attention._

"As Herve said, a friend. His name is Talyn."

The smile on the officer's face dimmed. "Talyn? Talyn Bouvier, the street criminal?"

She noted the last name she had never known for later research, and feigned a look of surprise.

"I was unaware he was a criminal. Granted, we didn't spend too much time together."

Mr. Delmas turned a darker shade of red as Sissi fidgeted uncomfortably next to her.

"I see. Obviously you have a way to communicate with him, as you invited him out with you."

"Not particularly. I was asked to invite him, and I passed on the message. He surprised me by showing up."

Reynard tapped his pen against the notepad before scribbling down some more notes. "Tracking him down for questioning will be hard, but I'll mark him as a suspect."

Tianna bit her lip; it was not going as she planned. She only had one card left to play, an assumption she had gathered based on Talyn's words and Sissi's fidgeting.

"I don't see why. As far as I know, he spent the night with Sissi. She should be able to account for him not leaving her sight."

Sissi winced as Mr. Delmas slammed his hands on his desk. "My daughter spent the night with a criminal? Elisabeth, how could you?"

"Mr. Delmas, please." Reynard's remaining smile was strained as he turned to Sissi. "Is this true?"

She wrung her hands. "I… I-I… I didn't know he was a criminal…."

The officer sighed, and, dropping the point for the time being, turned to the LYOKO warriors. "Samantha was closer to you, was she not? Do you have any idea where she would have gone, or where she could be?"

Odd stepped forward, looking shaken. It matched the part well, though Tianna could not help but wonder if part of it was due to her sudden appearance.

"Sam was my girlfriend. We got into a fight last night, and she stormed out. We tried to find her, after she left, but we… we searched everywhere, and…."

_He plays the part well. Too well. I was nothing to him, wasn't I?_ Her fists clenched, before she released them to maintain her cool composure. She knew there was still a bit to go from Officer Reynard.

"We'll have to verify that with the security footage from the club. A club, mind you, that you were not old enough to get into. After conferring with Mr. Delmas, however, we'll leave the punishment up to him for that misdemeanor."

The principal nodded, his composure a little more controlled. "I've scheduled a meeting with the board to decide the correct punishment."

"We may contact the rest of you regarding further questioning as the investigation unfolds," Reynard continued, looking at the group. "As it stands, we still have some evidence to look over to see if we can pinpoint where Samantha went before she disappeared." He glanced at Tianna, and then to Mr. Delmas. "If you could pull up Ms. Henson's file, so that we could find the neighborhood that we might find the criminal Bouvier for questioning, among other things?"

Her reaction surprised herself as she heard the officer's statement. The smallest flash of electricity danced from her fingers to the nearest electrical socket, and overloaded it, and the entire administration building went dark. _They can't get to the records; they'll recognize the building as being abandoned and come knocking. It jeopardizes my mission._ She tried to convince herself it was not because it would jeopardize Talyn, his sister, or any of the other people Talyn had gathered. _I'll just… have to hack into the system and find a new place to live. Somewhere where I don't have Talyn and company around, so that I won't have to do this again. I can just leave them at the old building. Yeah. That'll work._

Mr. Delmas cursed – something the students rarely heard – as he pushed buttons on his computer. "I'm sorry, officer, we'll have to get a team to check on the circuits or something before I can get you that…."

The LYOKO warriors exchanged glances; she had risked suspicion by doing it, but she had a feeling the timing was too odd. If she was lucky, they would just think it was another attack by X.A.N.A..

Reynard sighed. "Very well. Until then, you all can return to class. If you remember anything that could aid us in the investigation, let us know. Especially you, Ms. Henson. Just because your friend can be accounted for doesn't mean his little goon-squad wasn't up to something."

Sissi lingered in the office – likely to attempt to smooth things over with her father, Tianna thought. The LYOKO warriors left quickly in a group, and she realized her risk had been a success. Herve and Nicolas split up, being the only ones who legitimately had nothing better to do. She turned towards the nearest building with a computer lab.

She had some hacking to do.

* * *

Reviews make me happy.


	8. Chapter 7

_A/N: Shock value is no longer there, me thinks. I really just wanted to get this out simply because it finishes the day from the last chapter and wraps up some final loose ends. The plot bunnies demanded I punch this out, then decided to take a trip. It may be a bit before I figure out what to write next. (Though I will admit, it's been fun developing Tianna's character these past few chapters.)_

_Reviews are, as always, appreciated. Thank you, anon reviewer!_

* * *

With the press of the 'enter' key, Tianna had a completely new home. Some fancy work with bank numbers and a phone call had landed her a small, two bedroom apartment on the third floor of a corner-house, complete with a small terrace. It was only a few blocks away from Kadic, and closer to the factory than her last place. All she had to do was pick up the keys and sneak out her belongings from the old complex, and she would never have to see Talyn again.

_Maybe then I'll stop making irrational decisions based on emotions I shouldn't even be able to feel. Why did Hopper have to make my original coding dictate that I would be an AI?_ She furrowed her eyebrows as she quickly hacked into the school's database and made the necessary changes to her file. Officer Reynard would not be bugging Talyn anytime soon – or at least, not because of her.

The bells sounded, and she realized she skipped the entirety of her first two morning classes. Praying that the teachers would excuse it for her being tied up with the whole Sam investigation, she grabbed her bag and headed out of the computer lab. Physical fitness and sociology passed by without a hitch – a stroke of good luck, she guessed – before she found herself in the cafeteria with two angry and hurt parties.

Sissi was nowhere to be found, and her two lackeys sat dejectedly at their table. Tianna could only imagine what trouble she had gotten into. Something inside of her twitched at the fact that she had openly admitted to spending the night with Talyn, something that she was not comfortable identifying and assessing. _What he does is his business. I simply returned the favor of him providing an opportunity in X.A.N.A.'s plan by extending his unhindered existence._ The logic sounded flawless in her head, but her emotions refused to acknowledge it.

Her gaze shifted to the table of the LYOKO warriors. They sat, huddled about their untouched lunches, and discussed something. Anyone who saw them would know not to interrupt them; the conversation was obviously private. She could only imagine what they were discussing, but on second thought, decided not to. Instead, she went through the lunch line and headed outside.

The bench she had sat on for lunch on her first day was empty, and clear of snow. She plopped onto it and took a bite out of the wrap she had purchased. The first few days, minus the night she had come to Earth, had been a brief but welcome warm spell in the midst of winter. Now she felt herself shiver as the dry wind blew by her. Her idle musings halted, however, when she felt her phone vibrate in her jeans' pocket. She set the wrap down and dug the phone out.

**She has awoken.**

Regret and joy hit her at the same time as she read the message. Joy, for being able to repay the one that had confused her human self; regret, for hurting those that had taken her in despite her origins. They battled as her practical programming took over. She tossed the remnants of her lunch away before casually strolling out of the academy. The factory was not far.

—

The LYOKO replica shifted its blocks as Tianna strolled through. Sam's prison had been hidden well, in the rare occasion the warriors found the sector five replica. It was only because the sector recognized her that she strolled in without an issue. Noticing she was rendered in her battle form, she privately took joy in the fact of knowing Sam would know exactly who she was. _Revenge will be sweet._

Sam's prison was nothing but a well-lit blue room of ever-changing blocks. The structure stayed the same square shape, but the room shifted position every so often to keep her exact location from being pinpointed. She had a feeling she would not have been able to find it if the sector had not guided her there. Immediately, she moved to one side of the room, and summoned a digital console. _I will have my fill of Sam's discomfort when I have what is needed._

"You!" Apparently, Sam's creature-prison did not hinder her ability to speak. "So it was you all along!"

Tianna flipped through some files on the console. Her past research in psychological torture was lacking, and she was grasping at straws when it came to what to do. _Don't tell Sam what time it is, or how long she's been here. If I do that, I can corrupt and fix some old video footage of the warriors to show her they don't miss her. Though I'll have to be careful… if I make it too obvious, she won't believe it. And the police report… she'll find that if she ever gets free. I need to work that in._

"Tianna, right? I should have figured you'd go after me first. Always had some sort of problem with me because I was with Odd, right?"

_Here we go, some old videos before Sam came along. Thank you, security footage. Now to age the warriors to local time, check the details, corrupt the file so that the timestamp is missing…_

"You should have known he'd want a real girl, not some broken computer program. You attacked them! You know life isn't a fairy tale. He wouldn't try to bring you back with love, or anything."

She gritted her teeth. Ignoring Sam while she worked would be hard, as the girl seemed to know exactly where to hit her.

"So that leaves you here, working for stupid X.A.N.A. because of some jealousy problem. I don't get why Franz wanted to bring you back, other than his own guilt for a failure of a program. You're nothing but a mess. A lousy program and an even worse human."

_There. A few videos of laughter, old hangouts, and them going about their business. That shouldn't be too much. Now, police reports…. Here we go. Good, the current news doesn't do much in describing the situation because it's an ongoing case. Just a plea from the school and her parents to come home. Nothing about her friends. Perfect._

"You're wasting your time, you know, trying to break me or torture me or whatever. There's no pain in LYOKO. Even you should know that. I'm not going to betray my friends. Because, well, they're my friends. I'm not like you."

She finally turned to her, her hand poised just above the shimmering console screen. "You talk too much."

"She speaks! Amazing. You know, they even tried to find you, despite all the crap you've put them through. All this time, you've been working for X.A.N.A. and plotting your revenge. For a program, you don't have much logic, do you?"

There was a long pause as she collected herself.

"Your arguments are interesting, Samantha." She tilted her head to the side. "First, you try to make me angry. Then you try to belittle my importance. And to top it off, you then try to make me feel guilt. Tell me, what is the purpose of this? Is it an attempt to bring some semblance of humanity back to me? To make me understand that my supposed 'jealousy' is unfounded and that I'm somehow honor-bound to return to your friends with my tail between my legs?"

"Everything you fight for is wrong," Sam spat. The prison-creature tightened its grip on her as she struggled. "This crusade of yours has no base. If you were anything like the human you tried to be, you'd see this all is pointless. You'd be fighting X.A.N.A. instead of fighting for him."

"Ah, yes. Because what I've gone through is typical for teenage girls, correct?" There was no hint of sarcasm in her voice. "And I could have done the 'getting over' that is so common for the situation. Except – and I will use the overly cliché line, here – my situation is quite different than the norm."

Sam opened her mouth, but Tianna shook her head and continued.

"You see, you think my actions are based on jealousy and an old grudge based off of something you believe I lost. Otherwise, you wouldn't have taunted me so. You wanted me to see 'logic', or rather, the 'logic' for why I should not be surprised Odd did what he did and you did what you did. Then you wanted to belittle my 'importance' so that I would feel remorse for my actions. And just in case I didn't catch that, you added 'guilt' to the mix for the stress I've put your little group through." She chuckled. "You really think everything I've done is because of some petty emotion I once felt for some petty little humans?" _And, well, though some part of it is, I can't let her know that. I have to be in control, here. I can reevaluate the words she threw later, when I'm not doing X.A.N.A.'s work._

"I don't know if you can truthfully call it petty, considering the things you pulled for the short period of time I knew you," Sam said, and her eyes narrowed.

"Every human emotion is petty, Samantha." She laughed, and slid her hand across the screen. Four different windows left the console and floated over to the imprisoned warrior, each playing its contents. "Even those involving you. You've been here for how long, now? The most that's happened is your parents and the school filing a missing persons report. Your so-called friends simply went back to their routine. They haven't even been actively looking for you."

Sam watched the screens for a moment, taking in the videos of her friends in their usually spots, laughing and getting along just fine without her. Even the screen with floating text of the reports of her missing were lacking in information and any general care.

"You're lying," she finally said, and turned her head away. "These are just fake things you put together just for this purpose."

Tianna shrugged, and the screens closed with a blink. "We each have our prejudices against the other side. Perhaps both our viewpoints are a bit slanted because of the other. But even through all that, there are still truths. I merely wish to show you those without any sort of veil. In time, perhaps you will see what I have seen, and realize what truly lies beneath all Belpois and Hopper have told you." She turned completely to her, and sized her up. "I harbor no ill towards you, Samantha. I have no reason to lie to you." _Mostly because my corruption of those files are practically foolproof and the reports aren't even edited. Any cursory investigation she__ would do with the limited computer knowledge she has would show her nothing more than I have shown._

"You're so full of yourself," Sam said with a huff, refusing to look at her. "Your 'truths' will do nothing to me."

"Suit yourself." She turned on her heel and clicked out. _Say what you want, Sam. The seeds have been planted._

—

_You are such a liar, Tianna._ Her thoughts slammed into her as she walked back towards Kadic. _Has X.A.N.A. really influenced you that much? You don't believe a word of what you just told her. You are angry because of jealousy, because of hurt. You do feel guilt. You don't believe what X.A.N.A. is doing is right. And you sure weren't telling her a shred of truth in your little truth spiel. Admit it: she got to you, and you've turned into X.A.N.A.'s perfect little helper._

She balled her fists as she told herself to shut-up. _This is who am I know, and I know it. I no longer have a choice. I don't always have choice, either. This is what I was programmed to be, and that function is what I'll carry out. Human emotions are nothing but a hindrance, collateral damage to the occupation. I merely need to keep them in check until I can cleanse the virus from my system._ With that, she kicked her emotions to the curb and focused instead on the rest of her to-do list.

Jim caught her as she approached the building of her last class. While classes for the day were almost over, she had figured she could at least catch the end of it so as to not appear to have skipped the entire afternoon. However, Jim informed her the Mr. Delmas had called the parties involved with Sam's disappearance to the administration building, where apparently, punishment would be dished out. _And now I have skipped classes and possibly added suspicion. Wonderful._

After trudging to the building with Jim on her tail, she found absolutely no respite in the tense room that she was directed to. Mr. Delmas and the complete school board sat around a circular table, while Sissi, her lackeys, and the LYOKO warriors sat in the hard, plastic chairs from the receptionist's office. The principal was standing, his hands behind his back, and he wore a very serious, if not somewhat angry, expression.

"Ms. Henson. How nice of you to join us after your little afternoon escapades." He eyed her, as if personally holding her accountable for his daughter's adventures with Talyn. Or so, that's what it looked like to her.

She inclined her head apologetically, and slid into the remaining empty seat next to Aelita. The pinkette offered her a small smile of recognition, but not much more.

"The school board and I have spent the afternoon deciding what punishments you all shall receive, along with phone calls to your parents and guardians." He fixed his daughter with a glare. "Elisabeth, you already know your punishment. I expect your bags to be packed by this evening. Your grandmother will keep you schooled and let me know when she believes you are ready to come back to school."

Sissi's eyes were puffy and red; she obviously had fought over this decision earlier, and did not like that the school board upheld it.

"Pichon. You helped my daughter create this plan, I've no doubt. Your parents have requested that you be transferred to a day student, and will discipline you to their own discretion. You have two weeks of suspension, and then will be allowed back on campus with limited privileges. The same applies to you, Poliakoff, as your parents have requested the same."

The two lackeys sunk into their seats.

"Belpois. Your parents are too far away to have requested you home. The board has decided that, since you and your friends came forward and did the correct thing regarding your actions, you will now be on limited privileges with a month of detention. Stones, Stern, and Della Robbia: this punishment goes the same for you. Your parents, Stern, have requested you contact them immediately, however."

_How conveniently lucky, although if I remember correctly, their parents are, for the majority, not in France._ Her thoughts paused as Mr. Delmas trained his gaze on her.

"Henson. You subjected our students to a criminal, despite your claims of ignorance. Being new here, we could easily expel you." He sighed; it appeared that would be his preferred decision. "However, the school board has decided that your ignorance of the rules because of being new here, and your status as a day student, will land you two months of detention. Any further class skipping without a parental or guardian excuse, or prolonged rule breaking, however, will result in expulsion."

_Well, it'll be hard, but I can still do my mission._ She let out air she did not realize she had been holding, and relaxed in her chair. After a small lecture from the principal in rules, they were dismissed to detention. _Two problems down, one to go._

—

It was already dark when Tianna finally left the Kadic campus. With her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket, she moved at a normal pace towards her new apartment. She had planned out her evening while in detention; she would get the key, then during the night, use her speed and strength to move what she needed into the new apartment. Her landlord seemed nice when she arrived, and was all smiles as he handed her the key. She was told where to leave the rent, what she could not do to the apartment, and other general rules that applied to the tenants.

After checking out the apartment and figuring out what she could bring, she sprinted back to the complex and began the several hour long process of moving the worldly possessions she could claim. Clothes, her computer setup, and some furniture soon found their way into the nice little new apartment. Eventually, as dawn began to color the sky, she was done. She stood, for the last time, in the middle of the room, and looked about. Even though she had only lived there for a short time, it had been her first home since she was back. There was a small amount of attachment associated with the place.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she failed to hear the click of her door as the lock unhinged. Only when she heard the voice did she spin around, startled. Talyn eyed her up and down, before his gaze flicked around the room.

"Something up? You didn't come home at the usual time, and I heard something went down at Kadic today."

"One of the girls from last night went missing," she replied; there was no use hiding the truth from him. "A missing persons report was filed, and they were questioning we who were involved. Then the school dished out detentions for most of us."

Talyn shifted ever so slightly. "I don't suppose I managed to escape the radar?"

"One of Sissi's little friends identified you. Although Sissi deflected most of the attention by admitting you spent the night with her." The words came out just a tad sharper than she intended. "Couldn't resist… oh, what's the word… some easy tail?"

"Why? Jealous?" The tips of his mouth quirked upward in a smirk.

"Hardly." She turned away, back to her survey of the room. "Nevertheless. I'm moving so that the police don't investigate this place. Everyone here could get in a lot of trouble." She ticked off her fingers as she spoke. "Heating and cooling, electricity, and water have all been rewired so that the neighbors are the ones thinking they're using more than they should. It should keep you off the grid if you don't go overboard."

"Amelia…."

"Think of it as a final thank-you gift for all that you've done for me," she said, and turned back to him. "Just try to keep a low profile, all right?"

He looked about the room, and she could see the beginnings of questions in his eyes. _Probably cannot fathom how I got all my possessions out without making much of a ruckus_, she mused with a hint of humor. Tapping her foot, she waited for the inevitable questions that she would have to endure before she left for good. She was surprised at the unlikely outcome of her assumption.

"You know," Talyn said, slowly, "I don't know much about you. I don't know your real name, nor do I know what kind of crap you're going through or have been through to pull off what you do. I don't expect to ever know. But I can honestly say I'm going to miss you being here. You are one of a kind."

She blinked. _Instead of questions, I get…. What is this? What is this feeling…? This shouldn't… it doesn't… nothing computes._

"I'm sure going to miss our little adventures, too. I suppose this is where you add to your dramatic leaving by saying we should never see each other again, isn't it?"

"I'd not consider this dramatic." Her tone remained indifferent, her programming taking over as she battled with human emotions in the background. "But you would be correct. In lieu of recent events, staying apart seems wise. I've my path, and you've yours."

He hooked his thumbs into his jeans and rocked on his heels for a moment. Taking the silence to be resignation, she moved to leave the apartment – only to be stopped as she passed by him, when he reached out to grab her arm.

"Wait." When she paused, he seemed startled that she listened. "Amelia, I— Let me see you, one last time, when it isn't six in the morning. Sometime when we can be free of our responsibilities and just… let go. Be ourselves. You always seem to be in the middle of some master plan in the shadows, and I'm always looking out for my group, but I think we owe it to each other; we've been through some crazy things in such a short time."

Something akin to happiness snaked through her mind, and she found herself actually considering his offer. _X.A.N.A. might allow me to indulge in something, after all I've done, and maybe this will quiet these annoying emotions for a bit if I act more human…. It'll allow me to continue my work unhindered, and will tie up these final strings. It'll likely even stop me from doing anything stupid again to protect Talyn because I'll know for certain I no longer have any ties to him. It's beneficial to the mission. Yes, that's why I'm considering this._

"I know I'm not some snob from Kadic, and I can't take you to the finest places, but—"

"All right," she said, effectively interrupting him. "But just once."


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: I've been watching the Matrix too much. That, and I've been listening to Celine Dion. Dear god, please help me. Some of those songs, I just go "THAT'S TIANNA, RIGHT THERE. I'MA GO WRITE SOMETHING SOOPER SADZ NOW BASED ON THIS."

On an unrelated note. Oh, Tianna, how your viewpoints are fun to write.

I had fun writing this chapter. However, I'm a little iffy on how it turned out. Writing in a limited third-person point of view has its drawbacks, as everything is slanted in one perspective and can create rage in "That's not how they'd be like!". So, a little disclaimer: this is in Tianna's point of view. This does not necessarily reflect on what other characters are truly like.

Tianna's character sheet is finally colored and what-have-you. Links are on my profile.

**Edit (IMPORTANT!):** I reviewed this chapter a few days after posting it and discovered I'd disclosed some information in the scene with Sam that I had added in to the rewrites. While I have them semi-written, I haven't posted them, and therefore I acknowledge the possible confusion this could cause. Bear with me here; instead of rewriting this chapter, the next chapter will review the scene and clarify things, since I have yet to publish those particular chapters in the rewrite.

* * *

_76. The _ causes contractions of the ventricles of the heart.  
A) Vena cava  
B) AB Node  
C) AV Node  
D) Aorta  
E) Air pressure in the lungs_

Tianna suppressed a yawn as she circled the correct letter. It was midterm time in Kadic, with the first semester coming to a close in a little under a week. She had been pulling late nights to study – which would be an odd occurrence for the program, except that she had not been studying for her academics. Instead, she had spent hours and hours researching different forms of psychological torture. While X.A.N.A. had not called her back to work on Sam, she still wanted to be prepared for the next session.

It had been a little over two weeks since the first, fun-filled session in the replica. X.A.N.A. had been relatively quiet since then, and she had been able to maintain a normal schedule befitting of a normal, teenaged student. Detention went by without a hiccup as she spent two hours each evening with the LYOKO warriors, although talking was not allowed and she had yet to make any progress on that front. _At least they don't seem to suspect anything from me, aside from perhaps questionable associates._

The police had never returned to Kadic, either. Somehow, Tianna realized she had slipped detection on the security cameras, in the sense that they had not noticed her disappear after the power outage. When she realized her mistake several days later, she had hacked the police database and edited the footage accordingly. The hunt for Sam continued, albeit with little to no progress.

Her only remaining obligation laid with Talyn, then. She paused in her testing to bite the eraser of her pencil – a nervous habit she had observed and decided to pick up on. Talyn had not been in contact with her since the day she left the complex, and she was curious as to when he would decide they should meet. Not because she wanted to see him again, she told herself, but because it was the last remaining obligation she had before she could focus solely on her mission once again.

Several tests later, she found herself sitting in the cafeteria, alone, with her lunch. A notebook lay open in front of her, and she put on the pretense of studying for her afternoon classes. In reality, it was a jumbled mess of technical notes and observations. With her head bent over it, she looked like any other student in the cafeteria. Her eyes, however, looked up at the table of LYOKO warriors, who were sitting a few tables in front of her.

They appeared as normal as they often did, though that was what tipped her off. She wondered if anyone else had picked up on it: for just losing one of their friends, they did not appear as distressed or upset as one would expect. In fact, they had reverted completely back to normal. There was no hint that they were even attempting to act normal for the sake of coping with the loss – it was too normal.

_So they must have decided that X.A.N.A. is definitely the culprit. But I'd have thought they'd have a little more tact with reacting to it. It's only been a few weeks._ She scowled, as her mind drifted to wondering if this was how they had acted when she first disappeared. The thoughts rested in the back of her mine, and curdled in the simmering emotions she generally tried to keep under control. _Let me look at this way: now I can actually get true footage of the warriors acting normal without her. But… I need something to really push her buttons. What, though?_

The question rested in the more prominent part of her processing center as she worked towards a solution throughout the afternoon. She had several ideas by the time detention rolled around, but none of them included the opportunity that suddenly landed on her lap. Jim was their "jailer", so to speak, and often read a book or a magazine during the two hour period. That day, however, the room was a bit warmer than usual, and he had fallen asleep on his chair; his head had tilted back, and a somewhat snore escaped him every few seconds.

She had assumed her studying position, and had retreated into her mind. Aelita's presence at the side of her table took a minute to register, and she snapped her head up in a startled fashion when it finally did register. The pinkette offered her a small smile, and clasped her hands in front of her.

"We're studying for the math midterm tomorrow," she said quietly, and pointed to the group clustered around a table behind her. "I noticed you're studying, too. Would you like to join us?"

_A replacement. If Sam feels replaced by someone she doesn't really know, it would hit her hard._ The answer she had been looking for had finally walked up to her. Yet… a small whisper snaked through her mind. _Especially if she feels replaced by Odd…._

She realized she had been staring at Aelita. "Oh! Sure, I guess. Can't hurt."

While she collected her things, she reflected on her thoughts. _The latter might be hard to pull off – and not just because it would be hard on me. No, I won't focus on that yet. Focus on integrating, and the rest will come naturally._ She refused to acknowledge what would be the quickest path to torturing Sam simply out of self-preservation.

"I don't know how you understand this stuff, Jeremy," Ulrich was saying as she joined the table with a chair she had dragged over.

"It looks like Latin to me," Odd said in agreement, before the group noticed her presence.

"Hi." She smiled weakly as she sat down and set out her own book and notebook, before flipping to a fresh page. "Calculus, right?"

"Right." Aelita sat back down. "Jeremy and I are already ready, but we've been helping these two. We've got some practice problems, if you want."

"That'd be helpful." She began copying the problems down in her notebook. Math was a particularly easy subject for a program, but she left a few problems unanswered and a few answers off by one or two on purpose. "How've the rest of your midterms gone?" she asked as she worked, in an attempt for idle conversation.

"Pretty good," the pinkette replied. "Haven't they, Jeremy?"

"At least, for us, they have."

"Hey!" Odd froze as Jim let out a particularly loud snore. After a moment where he continued to sleep, he continued, "We can't all be as smart as you, Einstein."

Tianna's brow rose in feigned confusion. "Einstein?"

"That's our nickname for our resident genius," Ulrich said with a grunt, as he pushed his practice paper away.

"Ah." She laughed quietly, and handed her paper to Aelita.

Odd stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, in a slightly comically way, as he worked. "Great, even Ulrich's beating me at these questions? I thought math was your worst subject."

"I get tutored."

"Or so he thinks." Jeremy passed him back his paper, with the majority of the answers circled in red pen. The brunette groaned.

"Hey, you're pretty good at this, Amelia," the pinkette remarked as she handed her back the paper with only a few of the answers circled.

"Detention has made me study," she replied with a small grimace, before she picked up her pencil again.

There was a brief silence as the group exchanged glances – detention was the one reminder of what had happened that had yet to go away. She decided to remain oblivious as she continued working on the problems.

"At least we have break coming up," she continued on. "And I imagine none of the teachers will want to stay to force us into detention."

"Speak for yourself," Jeremy said with a chuckle that seemed just a bit strained. "We're all staying here for break."

"Oh?" This was news to her. "Not going off to visit family?"

"We've got some friends coming back to Paris to spend some time with us," Aelita replied, as Ulrich looked uncomfortable for a minute.

_Yumi and William. This can't bode well, for several reasons._ She kept her studious façade up as her mind worked through the options.

"I wish I had somewhere to go," she murmured, partially as an afterthought when silence threatened to befall them all again. "Downside to actually living not far from here."

"At least you don't live on campus," Odd said, before he held up his paper triumphantly. "Done! Finally."

"Do you want to do the honors, Aelita, or shall I?" Jeremy asked, with genuine amusement, now.

Tianna furrowed her eyebrows as she looked up. "He can't be that bad, can he?"

Odd gave her a lopsided smile. "Nice to see someone has faith in my abilities."

"I wouldn't particularly call that faith," Ulrich said as he turned back to the group. "More like disbelief."

"I suppose I'd understand if I had more classes with him." Privately, she was glad she did not. She glanced at Jeremy, who had taken to correcting the math problems. "How's it look?"

"Well, I'll put it this way." He adjusted his glasses. "Odd, if you past this year, you will prove my calculations wrong."

The blond groaned, and thudded his head against the table. Without thinking, as the situation was nostalgically familiar to Tianna, she reached out and patted his shoulder. As soon as she was aware what she was doing, her hand froze, and she partially retracted it.

"I'm sure you can find some tutors to help you for next semester," she managed out as she set her hand back on her calculus book. Her eyes flicked around the group briefly – they did not seem to have noticed anything – before she looked back down at her questions.

"Careful Amel—" Ulrich started, but Odd interrupted him as his head popped back up.

"Is that an offer?"

She swallowed. "I don't know if I qualify for that position."

"I'll take any help I can get," he said, and gave her wide, pathetic eyes. "Please?"

_His disregard for Sam's disappearance is sickening._

Her pencil paused in its scratching as she recoiled slightly. "You've got two smart friends right here, don't you?"

_All of them are._

"We mind as well be speaking another language when we try to tutor him," Aelita said with a giggle.

_I don't care if they know think she's in a similar situation with William – this is crazy. These people are way too happy-go-lucky. Humans are so… weird. Heartless._

"I'll… consider it," she finally conceded. _Only because it will help my own interests._

—

Of her own volition, she decided to visit Sam after detention. _It's to keep X.A.N.A. from breathing down my neck,_ she told herself. No one was at the factory, and she slipped into LYOKO without a problem. Instead of rewiring a scanner, she merely landed in the original digital world. The ice sector was her sector of choice, and she aimlessly wandered through the silent area until she reached the transport tower.

She floated up to the second tier and summoned the console. After changing a few files, she dismissed it and promptly dived off the platform. For a moment, she sailed through the blue and white lines of code, before she spotted the underside of a platform. Her perception changed and she was no longer falling down, but climbing up onto that platform. A simple, quick transportation program had spirited her away to the other replica without the hassle of going through the digital sea and the internet.

Leaving the tower, she found herself in the sector-five-like replica. The blocks formed a walkway for her, and led her to their prisoner. Sam was still in the same position Tianna had left her in, although her jailer had tightened its tentacles, as if she had tried to fight.

"Well, well, look who's back," Sam spat as she spotted her.

"Hello, to you, too." Tianna did not bother summoning a console. She had a feeling Sam would refuse any videos, so she planned only to speak.

"What'd you come here for today, huh? Gonna show me some more fake videos?"

She sighed, and clasped her hands behind her back. "I'm only here to talk, Samantha."

"Sam. It's Sam. You know that, so stop trying to act all righteous."

"If you prefer Sam, then that is what I will call you."

"What'd you like to be called? 'X.A.N.A.'s pet'?"

"Tianna is quite fine, thank you."

"I dunno, 'pet' seems to fit you well."

She glanced around the room, and clicked her tongue. "How do you like your accommodations?"

"I never want to see the color blue again," Sam deadpanned.

"Isn't it strange, though, that they fit to your every need?" Tianna began to leisurely pace in front of her.

"I wouldn't exactly describe these as ideal. Ideal would be letting me go."

She paused, and chuckled. "Fair enough."

"How long have I been here?"

Tianna considered revealing the truth, but thought better of it. Removing Sam's sense of time was too important.

"There isn't much of a way to tell in here, is there?" she finally said. "Without the need to eat, drink, sleep, or exercise… without a sun and a moon telling you when it is day and when it is night… time seems so… strange, doesn't it? You can't even use breathing to count the seconds properly, since the only reason you emulate breathing is because you are used to it, and not because you need it. You start to forget, and the jumbles up the whole counting aspect."

Sam was silent for a long moment. "What's happened to my body? Is it all right?"

"You don't have a body when you're in LYOKO, Sam."

The girl attempted to jump forward, only to be held back by her jailor. "What did you do to it?"

"I did nothing. When you are virtualized onto LYOKO, your body becomes nothing but lines of code. There is no physical remnant on Earth. It's why, if you fall into the digital sea, you are erased from both worlds." She shrugged. "What you consider as the human parts of you – your brain, for instance – are nothing but the renderings of the transfer. Here, you are on the same plane as me. Lines and lines of code forming a program, which forms a projection. Your brain is nothing but the processing center, and your memories, your emotions, your 'human' aspects are nothing but what your processing center has to run on."

"I am nothing like you," she hissed.

"Are you not? Here, we are both programs. Our origin is different, but we are still intelligent. We fight for what we believe in. We struggle with the aspects that our human forms bring. The only difference there is that I know how to revert to my programming in both forms. I know how to treat my 'brain' as the processing center it is. You have the reverse."

"I have a real life."

"What is 'real', Sam? For you to so easily be rendered as something digital – a program, just like me – makes 'real life' seem so… phantasmal. Whimsical. You only believe you are still human because that is all your processing center knows."

She sputtered. "You lie."

"I ask you, again, why would I lie?" When she did not reply, Tianna continued. " X.A.N.A. and I could have easily wiped your code, changed it and corrupted it to fit our 'evil plans', as you call them. That would certainly give weight to your argument. But we didn't. We chose to keep you in this form."

"So, what, you could torture me? I hate to break it to you, but there is no pain on LYOKO."

"I am well aware of that fact." She chuckled. "You have been rendered as an AI, just like I have. You can learn, you can process information and choose a course of action. Technically, there was no logical reason to do anything to you. We could simply provide you with the facts, let you process them, and see the logic."

"You keep saying that, but you're just wasting your breath."

"You will find, Sam, that X.A.N.A. doesn't do anything unnecessary. X.A.N.A. is a perfectly logical creature, just as you are or I am. You simply need to move past your base programming – those human-like qualities that have led you and many other humans in that phantasmal 'real life' to countless, unneeded, trying situations – and see the simplistic logic of the program you currently are."

"I won't be a program forever. Once I devirtualize, I'll be a human again. And you'll see just how resilient we humans are, despite our 'illogical shortcomings'."

"I don't think you understand, Sam." Tianna held back a Cheshire grin; she had been waiting to break the news to her. While it would involve partially revealing her location, it would still shake Sam to her core. "If you devirtualize, your code will simply merge into the mass of the internet."

"You… But… T-That can't be right. I just have to lose my life points and I'll be back on Earth."

"Did you never question why you could not be virtualized directly into a replica of LYOKO? The simple answer was that the super computer was not connected to it. The complicated answer is that because the super computer is not connected to it, one's digital rendering must pass through the internet – the digital sea – and have the correct security to pass into the replica. I virtualized you directly here, Sam. You passed through the digital sea."

There was complete silence for a solid minute. Even the ever-changing blocks made no sound, as there was no need in their programming for them to make any. She waited for the inevitable explosion as she watched Sam's face contort into a myriad of emotions.

"You… you hypocrite! You just preached choice and how X.A.N.A. had done nothing to me and how he was so good and now here you tell me you wiped my human body from existence? What backwards logic do you believe in where that is… is… logical?"

"A body can be rebuilt. The code is out there. But you, your freewill – your 'mind', as you call it – is still intact. We did nothing to that. Can you honestly say we wiped you from existence when what makes you be you still exists?"

"Yes! You erased my human body! I was a human! I am a human! I'm not you!"

"Are you? You, who willingly jumped from human to program every time you virtualized, who enjoyed the world and the 'superpowers' that came with being a program – you are still a full human?" Tianna paused, and looked her in the eye. "You lost your humanity the first time you were virtualized, the first time you became a program. You became nothing more than lines of code that could be rendered in two different ways."

"You took the choice of which I wanted to be away from me!"

"You took the risk of losing your human rendering each time you virtualized onto LYOKO, when you waged an illogical war with a program who only wanted to do the logical thing."

"Your logic is flawed."

Tianna stepped back. "Perhaps, in a sense. The logical thing to do with you would have been to wipe the remnants of humanity from you, to unburden you of them. Strange how X.A.N.A. chose not to."

Sam opened her mouth – and closed it. _Ahh, there it is. All the time you've spent in here, thinking, you've been wondering why you weren't just controlled. And now, everything I've just said, has planted more seeds of doubt into your mind, of what is real and what isn't. Of what is logical and what is illogical. You're going to start questioning yourself when I leave you alone. And that, dear Sam, is what will get you in the long-run._

With no further words left, she turned on her heel and clicked out. As she readied herself to return to Earth, a small thought snaked itself into the forefront of her mind: _I'm starting to believe what I'm saying._

* * *

I am a review lover. Humor me, and press that button.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Important!** In case you did not see the author's note edit in the last chapter, I shall reiterate it here:_

_"I reviewed this chapter [Chapter 8] a few days after posting it and discovered I'd disclosed some information in the scene with Sam that I had added in to the rewrites. While I have them semi-written, I haven't posted them, and therefore I acknowledge the possible confusion this could cause. Bear with me here; instead of rewriting this chapter, the next chapter will review the scene and clarify things, since I have yet to publish those particular chapters in the rewrite."_

_I was unable to add this information in just yet. Due to the length of this chapter, I had to cut it in half; it would have been a cluster-bowl of information that would have seemed rushed and squeezed together. It will be in the next chapter.  
_

_Bear with me! My mind got ahead of me._

* * *

"Your visit is impressive, but not all unexpected."

X.A.N.A.'s whispered voice reached Tianna's ears as she worked in one of LYOKO's towers. The data on the console streamed by as she tilted her head to listen, but her fingers did not stop working. At the moment, she was preplanning battle strategies for the week ahead of her. Midterms had ended the day before, and from idle conversation with Aelita in-between tests, she had found out that Yumi and William would be arriving the next day.

"I'm carrying out my function," she replied, and slid the coding for krabs into her active window.

"Without prodding." The smoke swirled around her. "You've finally accepted your true purpose."

She ignored the statement. "The prisoner is coming along to your expectations, I take it?"

"Quite. You're doing well with her." There was a pause. "I see you're not working on anything for that purpose, however."

Tianna remained silent for a long moment. Something she could not quite identify had held her back from giving the information over immediately. _Some remnant of my human nature, I imagine. Or perhaps I was considering not telling him at all and seeing what damage the warriors could wreck. _She shook the thoughts away and returned to her current situation.

"Two warriors are returning to Paris, presumably to help the current warriors locate Sam and attack you." She moved the krab's file from her window and pulled up a completely new one. Her fingers worked quickly as she entered in line after line of code. "I figured you'd call me in, so I've been preparing strategies and a few surprises."

"You should have brought this to my attention earlier."

"I was verifying the information." _Liar. You were as shaken up by Sam's words as she was by yours. You were contemplating how far you'd fallen off the fence; when you switched from passively halting X.A.N.A. to going above and beyond to help him._

The smoke swirled towards the screen, and the screen flickered a few times. "What have you prepared?"

"I'm preparing a wild goose chase." Amidst the flickering, she flung up three windows into their own screens. "The first is a new monster, which I will trigger the first time they come in to search. While they deal with it, others will attack their ship, and make them believe we are trying to keep them from heading into the internet. With any luck, they'll believe that's where she's being stored. And, while she is being stored there, there would be no point in trying to make them assume she's on Earth quite yet. They know she was virtualized."

"An interesting approach."

"When they next come in, I'll allow them to get into the internet. Here, I've created another replica of sector five. It's about as hidden as any of the other replicas, but it's new. I've a feeling that'll pique their curiosity. There, they will be attacked with fervor – faked desperation, even. As if they're getting close."

"You always were an excellent actress."

She snorted, and zoomed in on the third window. "They'll come back to the replica, and we'll let them. We'll let them search – perhaps with only a minimal welcoming committee – and eventually let them dock on one of the towers to find out where the replica's mainframe is stationed. I've routed it to an old, abandoned prison, and filled it with several surprises. If they get too suspicious of how obvious it is, I'll have to appear to make it authentic. Perhaps act like I'm stalling, make it seem as if we're moving Sam from location to location. This will keep their focus on replicas – more specifically, the newly created ones."

"You assume that these replicas are replaceable."

"Are they not? I've noticed you prefer to keep your major work in the older, more hidden replicas. The newer ones should keep them busy enough while I finish turning Sam to our side."

The smoke swirled around the screens, until she collapsed them. It paused, in midair, before dispersing. Only a whisper was let behind.

"Brash little program, do not fail me."

—

The longer she remained in her programming mentality, the more Tianna realized she was willing to help X.A.N.A.. _Odd, considering how the façade I've put up is very much human. But nothing I put into it 'shakes me to my core', as it's said. Nothing is personal. Even stranger, still, how I was more resilient to X.A.N.A. when I was on LYOKO as a prisoner. You'd think returning me to Earth would have brought back all that confusion, more so than the little tremor I felt in the beginning. _ _Perhaps X.A.N.A. finally fixed my base programming – the information my logic stems from. _A shiver of fear wracked her spine. _I fear what will happen when the confusion returns. I fear what will trigger it. I… fear._

She dropped her head into her hands. _I've become a true mess._ With a groan, she picked her head up and flopped backwards into the back of the sofa. The ceiling of her apartment was a very boring shade of white, she noted, as she stared up at it. Her mind wandered about, collecting her past and trying to make sense of the present. Data rolled about behind her eyes.

Originally, she was an 'it', and it was a program called L.A.N.A.. She was once supposed to be the counter-agent against the destructive X.A.N.A. – a program, in development by Hopper, to fix the mistake. Then Hopper and his daughter came to LYOKO to escape outside forces, and LYOKO was shutdown. She was never finished, and instead sat in dark limbo until the day Jeremy booted the super computer back up.

X.A.N.A. had found her file, then, and corrupted it so that she was aid instead of an enemy. She had done much of his dirty work until her own artificial intelligence had questioned his motives. When she had found what her original purpose was – to fight X.A.N.A., instead of aid – she chose to override her programming at the time and revert to her original design.

But virtualizing herself into a human had been her biggest mistake. She had not been prepared to face the onslaught of human emotions, of their imperfections. Logic and emotions did not mix well, and she had been torn apart. Eventually, she returned to X.A.N.A. simply to seek relief. Things had made sense when she was with it, and logic dictated that was the wisest course of action.

Then she found Franz Hopper, and her world became turbulent once more. He had brought her a different kind of solace, one that affected both her human and her digital form. She thought she could balance them again, and she was wrong. Emotion and logic just did not mix.

Her imprisonment had given her enough time to work on a ratio of how much emotion she could feel compared to logic. The longer she was on Earth, the more that ratio balanced out. But she never got rid of the doubt, the voices that haunted her at night. _Is logic really worth giving up these feelings that I could potentially work to understand and control?_

Logic dictated she stick with what she already knew because it was efficient. What little emotion she kept buried told her that X.A.N.A.'s goals should not be carried out, that the humans deserved more chances. Of course, those emotions also told her to join the humans for other reasons that she refused to entertain anymore.

The nearby church's bells tolled and she briefly counted them – it was four, and considering the sun was out, it was in the afternoon. _Yumi and William should be arriving, soon. _She pushed herself off the sofa and grabbed her coat. As she headed out of the apartment, she tied it, and pulled her gloves on. It was time for a leisurely stroll to the factory. Which would have gone as planned, except for the fact that Talyn was waiting for her; leaning against the building, he looked as smug and rogue as he usually did.

"Nice to see you, too," he deadpanned as she halted in surprise. "Miss me?"

"This is a really bad time." _Admit it; you're a little happy to see him._

"Hey, don't worry." He held his hands up, as if he could ward off her negative vibes. "Just stopping by to see when you'll be free so we can have our little, not-so-crazy adventure. I know Kadic is off this week."

"I'm busy this week." She inwardly winced at her tone. _ Shut-up, self. This is a really bad time. You can come back out later, when I'm not about to go into battle._

"All week?" His eyebrows shot up.

"It's not that I don't want to," she amended, in a softer tone. "It's just that I have some obligations already."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Jeez, I don't even want to know what's running you ragged. Maybe this weekend, then?"

"Tell you what." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other; something was pinging in the back of her mind, something to do with LYOKO. _Trouble, already. I must have mistimed their arrival._ "Friday… evening. I'll try to make that work." _All three phases should be done by then, if they do a day-by-day basis. My appearance won't be necessary._

He smirked, and stepped out of her way. "All right. I won't keep you any longer."

—

Dodging cameras in the factory meant she had to take the incredibly long way down to the scanners. From the looks of it, those going had already been virtualized; she sneaked into a scanner and started her own virtualization process without much trouble. After a rush of air, she landed in a crouch in the desert sector. She immediately tuned into the warriors communication frequency, and she turned towards the nearest tower. _I need to get to them before they get to sector five._

"The scanners are screwy again," Jeremy was saying when she tuned in. "Keep an eye out for Tianna. That was the trigger last time."

"Wouldn't that mean she's staying somewhere on Earth, then?" Yumi asked – she had almost forgotten what her voice sounded like.

"We haven't seen her, though," Aelita said. "You'd think she'd have appeared already."

"We don't have time to sit around and guess. Franz has already offered to work on localizing her." Jeremy paused, and she imagined he was working on the computer.

She reached the tower she needed and slipped in. At the second tier, she summoned a console, and pulled up three programs. Two were for her – a flight form and a faster movement form – to give her an even playing field with the warriors and their vehicles, while the other one was for the monstrosity of a monster that she designed. She activated the monster first.

"Jeremy, look at that."

"W-Wha…? X.A.N.A.'s pulling a lot of power for some reason. These readings are off the charts!"

"Think it could be Tianna?" Odd asked.

"There would be no need for her to pull that much for herself." Hopper paused. "You five need to head to the transport as quickly as possible."

"I'll bring in your vehicles," Jeremy said.

The program was running; it would be active within minutes. _I need to stall them until the kolossus is virtualized._ While the thought was not the most appealing, she forced herself to run the two programs for herself. As she placed her hand on the screen, she felt the data transfer into herself. _The transportation location is on the other side of the sector. I need to hurry._

Her new programs were based on animals, rather than something technological. She found it fitting for something that was generally considered down to earth as an archer was. They were apparently very in tune with nature, or so a quick search on the internet had yielded. She morphed into a black-and-white falcon – a bird known for speed – and flew off in the direction of the warriors.

"Guys, something's coming in your direction," Jeremy warned as she neared the group of warriors on their vehicles. "It's only one monster, though."

"Probably Tianna," Aelita said.

"Attacking all of us with no help?" Yumi sounded surprised. "Has she gotten more powerful or something? There's no way she can take us all down."

"Yeah, she's lost the element of surprise she had last time," Ulrich said.

_I always have surprises, it seems._ She nose-dived towards Ulrich in response to what he said, deciding he would be her first attack. _Don't devirtualize them, just distract them. I can do this._ Ulrich weaved away from her – "Is that a bird?" – and she pulled herself back up. Aelita, Yumi, and Odd were already in the air on vehicles, while Ulrich and William's vehicles were still grounded. _Ulrich will be expecting another attack. William, then._ She wheeled about and headed for the dark-haired man.

"William, watch out!" Yumi pointed, but it was too late.

_Poor William. He never really did get the hang of LYOKO, did he?_ She morphed into her digital form just before she slammed into his side. He grunted as he fell off his vehicle, and she back-flipped off of it before it drove off into the distance, uncontrolled. Whipping her bow out, she aimed for Yumi – _time to give them a warm welcome, I suppose – _and sailed an arrow into her vehicle. The woman yelped as she fell onto the ground.

Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita wheeled around while Yumi and William picked themselves up. She lowered her bow for a second, assessing her options. The kolossus would be virtualized nearby in less than a minute. _I just have to survive for that long._

"Looks like we'll have to deal with her, first," Ulrich said as the group readied their weapons. "We can take her out, easy."

She allowed herself a brief smile – the scene reminded her of their first reception of her. The thoughts were pushed aside, however, as William and Ulrich ran in a crisscross pattern towards her. Yumi performed a series of handsprings behind them, while Odd and Aelita took to the skies. She sighed, and ran towards the approaching warriors. As they neared and raised their swords, she jammed her bow into the ground and used her forward momentum to sail over their heads. Her feet collided with Yumi, and sent both of them to the ground.

Yumi, while surprised for a moment, quickly recovered and pushed her off. She rolled to the side, before rolling farther as several arrows and an energy field impacted into the ground. Rolling to the side only brought her closer to Ulrich and William, and she quickly pushed herself up and ran for her bow. They followed, and as she snatched it up from the ground, she spun around. As her momentum sent her skidding back, she fired off an arrow at their feet; it was dodged, but it caused them to split.

A sudden quaking caused them all to pause in confusion. She smirked as she sheathed her bow.

"Jeremy, what's—"

The roar of the kolossus tore through the generally quiet sector, and the warriors spun around. Climbing up onto the platform was the largest creature in X.A.N.A.'s arsenal: a rock-and-lava creature, taller than a tower and wider than three towers side-by-side, with two points that would need to be hit in order for it to be crushed.

"Guys, forget about Tianna." Jeremy's voice was panicked. "Get out of there!"

She activated her flight program and flew away. Her stalling was complete, and she had another mission to handle.

"But that's where we need to be for the transport," Aelita said as she flew away.

"That monster is off our charts," Hopper replied. It sounded like he was shaking his head. "X.A.N.A.'s really outdone himself."

It took a few minutes for her to reach the other end of the sector, where the data port that connected sector five to each individual sector. She flew through it, her code easily meshing with the flow and floating through the port before regrouping in the empty sphere. While idly listening to the warriors' chatter as they dodged her monster and attempted to reach the transport, Tianna flew into the core and zigzagged her way to the hangar of the skid. She landed as she switched forms, with her heels making a clicking sound resonating through the silent room.

"Oh no." She heard Jeremy frantically tapping away on his keyboard. "The proximity alert for the skid just went off. Tianna's going to attack it!"

"Well we can't just spirit ourselves into sector five!" Yumi snapped.

"We need to split up. Some of us can distract this thing while the rest go defend the skid." Aelita squeaked out the last word.

"Your life points! No!" Jeremy's hands audibly hit the keyboard. "We needed Aelita to pilot it."

"Focus on defense, right now." Franz's voice was surprisingly calm and collected. "X.A.N.A. wins this round. We need to protect what we can, and go in another time."

"You—You're right." The boy-genius sighed. "Yumi, Odd, distract the monster. You're both the most agile with your ranged attacks and vehicles. If you can draw away that… thing, then Ulrich and William can go after the skid."

"Roger that."

A small smile graced her lips, and she tapped one foot three times. In response, three creepers virtualized in the shadows and crawled out. They knew their job, and immediately began attacking the shields on the ship. She unclipped her bow and languidly fired a charged arrow. _Drain, but not destroy. A fine line to tread._ By her third, slowly drawn, moderately charged arrowed, she heard footsteps quickly padding towards her. She reached for her fourth arrow and nocked it.

"Hurry, guys! The shields are almost down."

"We see her." Ulrich switched frequencies, and she heard his voice on the universal channel. "Tianna!"

She paused, and lowered her bow slightly. Turning her head, she glanced over her shoulder just as one of Ulrich's swords slashed through her left arm. Warning bells chimed in her head as her life points drained, and her eyes narrowed as the pixels in her arm regrouped. She had released the arrow into the darkness below when her arm had been hit; she now pivoted on her heel to face them. Her bow hung loosely in the grip of her right hand.

"Careful where you throw that thing," William said as he readied his sword. "You don't want to hit the skid."

"Yeah, yeah, I figured," he snapped back as he drew his other sword.

A particular detail she had kept constant so far was that she had yet to speak to them in her digital form since she had reappeared. They knew little of her disposition, and it was a trait of those actively possessed by X.A.N.A. that they could not speak properly because of the mental confusion. It was a little detail, but one she had decided to use to her advantage if, on the off chance, she needed to play double agent. So she kept her lips sealed as she gazed at her opponents, and tightened her grip on her bow.

Ulrich switched back frequencies to their private channel. "You take the left, I'll take the right."

"Be careful, guys," Yumi said. "Odd and I have this thing under control for the time being."

_I wonder which one she is more concerned for._ The thought was a stray one, stemming from some matter she could not afford to bring up during the battle. She filed it away for later consideration as the two warriors charged at her. With little more than a shift in her stance, she sprinted forward to meet them. As they swung their swords at her upper body – where more life points would be taken per hit – she dropped her weight and skidded past them on the floor. With her feet flat and her knees bent, she slid into the block-filled wall with little impact.

Rolling over in a sort of spin, she picked herself up in time to see the warriors charging back at her. This time, William's blade was low and Ulrich's was high; they learned quickly. She chose to sacrifice twenty life points to garner distance from the melee users – she quickly fired an explosive arrow into the ground. As they halted and backed up, she stepped to the side of the arrow and let the current of the explosion push her to another outstretched platform. Switching her bow to a more horizontal position, she readied two energy arrows and fired them off. Both warriors rolled out of the way to dodge them.

"Guys, I hate to interrupt the fun, but those creepers are still steadily draining the shields. One of you needs to take care of them."

The two exchanged glances. Neither appeared to want to switch to the easier monsters.

"Guys!"

"I'll take them," William finally said, and he turned to the creepers on the other side of the hangar.

Tianna trained her eyes on Ulrich and fired off another shot while he was distracted. As he turned back towards her, his eyes widened, and he jumped to the side. The arrow nicked him in his arm, and she smirked slightly. _Now we're even._

"Super sprint!"

She jumped back as he sprinted to the edge of the platform and jumped, narrowly making the jump to her platform. _Fifty life points left, but the distraction is complete; they'll think just as I wish them to think. I just need to escape the melee attacks and bide my time to devirtualize myself._ She raised her bow as he swung towards her, and the wood surprisingly stopped the metal. Her lips thinned into a determined line as she broke the lock and danced backwards, out of his range.

"Triplicate…."

Two extra Ulrichs appeared to form a triangle around her, and her eyes narrowed. _He's going all out. This might actually be difficult._ She stared the real Ulrich in the eye as she crouched low. He readied his other saber; his replicas had them in a melee stance while he looked as if he was ready to throw it, should she try anything. _Well then, I'll just have to be quick._ She sprung up into the air and whipped her bow into a firing position. An arrow sang from her grip towards the real Ulrich just as one of the replicas switched stances and threw his saber into her back.

A startled gasp escaped her lips as her life points drained and warning bells chimed in her head. Ulrich and his replicas devirtualized below her; he had not dodged her arrow. Yet she had a new problem: she was devirtualizing. As her digital form fragmented and sent her human form information to the scanner, she heard Jeremy's frantic voice.

"Tianna! She's…. The scanners…. She's virtualizing here in the factory!"

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_Reviews make me a happy person._


	11. Chapter 10

_As I've stated on my profile, updates will be delayed due to wedding plans and a few other real life things. However, I know I owe you guys the second half of the last chapter - despite it being a bit short, it does have a lot of information._

_Enjoy._

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The _whoosh_ing sound of the wind tunnel that was the scanner filled Tianna's ears as she fell forwards, onto the floor of the scanner room. Next to her, the sound of the scanner that contained Ulrich whined as it prepared to release him; she panicked, and sent an orb of electricity into the scanner door. It halted with only a small inch open, and she heard him banging on the door as he regained his bearings. She dropped her hand and coughed as the after-effects of a forced devirtualization hit her.

_I'm here. The warriors are here. Jeremy might call the others back, now. I need to get out of here before they see my human form._ Her initial human panic faded slightly as logic kicked in, and she pushed her weakened body up. Ulrich continued to bang on the scanner doors as she moved to the elevator and hit the button.

_Cameras. I need to take care of the cameras._ She gathered what remained of her strength and slammed her electrically charged fist into the metal wall. The currents sought out the camera feeds and shorted them; she rested her forehead against the cool metal of the elevator door. Forced devirtualization made the stored information of her human form rush to compensate, and it had nasty after-effects on her strength.

The elevator came just as Ulrich began to push the scanner door open. She stepped in and punched in her destination as the ground floor. As she rested against the back of the elevator, she heard it grind to a stop only a few floors later. She cursed as her fist connected with the metal; Jeremy or Hopper had stopped it. Looking up, she spotted the small opening on the ceiling, and she sighed. Quickly, she crouched down and sprung up; she slid the trapdoor open and hoisted herself up.

As she began climbing up the ladder, she heard someone thump into the elevator. _They're following me? Persistent._ She pushed herself faster up the ladder as she heard someone climbing after her. The main floor of the factory came into view as light filtered down the elevator shaft. It was tinged orange – the sun was setting, she noted. _All the more better. I can lose whoever is chasing me much easier once it's dark out. _With that, she ran; whoever was following her likely only saw a wisp of hair as she sprinted away.

With Boulogne-Billancourt's many small streets and their habit of crisscrossing diagonally, Tianna thought losing her tail would be easy. She was wrong. On one of her turns, she confirmed her chaser was, indeed, Ulrich, who had apparently forcibly pushed the scanner open to follow her. He did not seem as weary as she did; she was consistently tripping and stumbling, which made her lose more and more ground.

Eventually, she rounded into an alleyway and crouched below a dumpster. The dirty wet snow seeped into her shoes and jeans, and she shivered as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Ulrich's footsteps echoed down the wet sidewalk, before they halted to a stop. It was silent, and she tensed. _If he comes down this alley…._ The footsteps started back up again, and they came closer, quicker.

The moment his figure came into view, she sprung forward and barreled into him. One elbow dug sharply under his ribs, while the other plastered over his face and slammed it sharply into the opposite stone wall. He grunted in surprise, before he slumped forward. She did not back up until she was sure he was truly unconscious; then she stepped back and ran a hand through her hair.

"Good work, Tianna. You captured a warrior and you don't have a way to feasibly bring him to X.A.N.A. yet." She ran a hand down her face. "What will you do now?"

—

With a beautiful array of colors, the sun rose the next morning. Tianna sat, curled up in a chair and wearing comfortable sweats, with a cup of coffee in one hand. She had not slept the entire night, despite how weak she felt. Instead she had spent the night staring at the LYOKO warrior on her sofa, sleeping off the electric shock she had dealt to him after she had dragged him back to her apartment.

She had yet to decide what to do with him; part of her knew she should bring him to X.A.N.A., but the other part rationalized her desire not to by bringing to her attention the danger, and the trouble, of turning two warriors. Yet it left her with the peculiar situation of Ulrich Stern being unconscious in her apartment, and how that could end terribly. Her lips thinned, and she drained the remnants of her coffee.

Dragging Sam through the digital sea had not bothered her, but imagining the rest of the warriors – her friends, once – finding the same fate stirred a strange feeling inside of her. _Guilt?_ She had pondered it for most of the night, as she drained her coffee supply.

Contrary to Jeremy's original belief, the scanners were anything but safe. Going to LYOKO turned humans into programs, and while it allowed one to easily switch between the two, it messed with the human side. The molecular structure changed, ever so slightly with repeated changes; it became a projection of the digital form's program, rather than the mortal form being the prominent form. The process was similar to how return trips strengthened X.A.N.A. – every transfer shifted the dominant form to the growing digital file.

Once one went to the digital sea, however, the transition was complete. The human projection was deleted, and the program took precedence as the files were scattered around the internet. Franz Hopper had been the first victim of it, before he had understood what was going on. Her previous journeys, before X.A.N.A. had taken back control, had allowed her to gather his fragments and piece him back together to recreate his human projection. A harmless replica, created unknowingly when Jeremy had done a similar process for Yumi when she had fallen, became the powerhouse to continuously keep their human projections up without interference from X.A.N.A.. William's program, from when she had brought him back, also resided there. Even a back-up of her human projection was stored there.

She told herself that the warriors had purposely chosen a path that could include harm, and they should be prepared for if she dragged them through the digital sea and destroyed the remnants of her humanity. It did not make her feel any better, and she scowled at the unconscious Ulrich. He was her latest reminder of the internal war that she, ultimately, had no control of. She distinctly remembered X.A.N.A. overriding her programming the last time he reined her in under his clutches.

Without much of a notice – partially due to her lack of attention – her front door slammed open. She jumped to her feet after a moment of surprise, though she wobbled on her feet from her lack of sleep. The LYOKO warriors – Yumi and William, at least – sprung through her door in fighting stances, followed by Odd and Aelita in weaker attack stances. She could see Jeremy, and oddly enough, Franz Hopper in the hallway.

"What's going on?" she asked, in genuine surprise.

"He's over there!" Yumi gasped, and pointed to Ulrich, before she ran to his side. "Ulrich!"

William's brows furrowed at the reaction, and seemed particularly perturbed that it was Yumi. Tianna filed it away for further consideration, but her focus remained at the curious glances she was receiving from the rest of the group.

"Amelia?" Aelita blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Careful, Aelita, she could be—" Jeremy was cut off by Tianna.

"What are you doing in my home?" she snapped, annunciating each word.

"We were looking for our friend," Yumi replied, and turned back to face her. "Jeremy was able to track his cell. What is he doing here?"

Hopper's gaze seemed particularly calculating as he watched her, and she ever-so-slightly shrunk back towards her chair.

"I found him in the alley between my building and the one next door, on my way home from work. He was unconscious." The lies flowed from her quite naturally, at that point. "He'd have gotten hypothermia if I left him there, so I dragged him back here."

"Is he okay?" Yumi asked at the same time Jeremy asked, "And you didn't think to take him to the hospital?"

She bit her bottom lip for a moment as the lies continued to form. "My mother is a doctor. She works nightshift – we came here from America, you see, so she could take an advanced neurology program here. Had her check him out before she left for the night. Figured it would be… cheaper."

"Oh." Some of the warriors seemed to lose their confrontational nature as Yumi pressed again, "Is he okay?"

She nodded. "My mother said he just had some bruising to the stomach, and very, very light head trauma. She told me to let him sleep it off and just to keep an eye on him. He shouldn't do anything too exerting."

"Well, thank you." Yumi sighed, and collapsed on the ground next to the sofa.

"Did you see anyone else, when you found him?" Aelita asked. "Out of curiosity."

"No, no one." Tianna shook her head, before she regarded them with a raised eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine," Jeremy replied, rather quickly. "We were just worried, since he didn't come back to Kadic last night."

"Oh. It's just that, well you brought all these people – even an adult. Should I have called the police, or something? I thought he'd just been roughed up."

"I'm Aelita's father," Hopper clarified, as he stepped forward. "They came to me, and we were going to do what we could before we got the police involved."

She shrunk back just a bit more. "I see. You guys are welcome to take him back, if you want. Just bring him to the hospital if his condition worsens. But, uh… do you guys mind leaving my apartment?" She shot them an annoyed – if a bit angry – look.

"Of course. Thanks again, for the help." Aelita began herding them out, with Odd and Yumi carefully helping Ulrich out of the apartment.

Tianna tapped her foot as they left, and closed the door behind them after they murmured their thanks once more. She pressed her ear to the door, and heard the beginnings of an argument on whether or not she seemed suspicious amongst the warriors. With a wince, she crawled onto the once-occupied sofa and dragged her laptop from the coffee table to her lap. Before she passed out, she hacked the nearest hospital's records and made a "Doctor Henson, Neurologist" exist on paper.

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_I'm likely going to retire this series after this story, as I finally have finished planning out the rest of this story. However, I am considering doing something if season five inspires me enough to create a sequel series (since I have invested so much time in Tianna and the characters here). Let me know your thoughts in reviews._


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